https://emuseum.cornell.edu/internal/media/dispatcher/76748/fullAsafo flag (frankaa)32 x 65 inches (81.3 x 165.1 cm)Cotton and feltGift of Joan Barist, Class of 196395.0320Of rectangular form and with fringes, with the British Union Jack in the upper left corner, animal tied to a stool, large winged mythological creature at the right, small bird above, and geometric border design; in red, white, black and yellow.
Small military units, called Asafo companies, have existed in Ghana for at least three centuries. The Asafo now longer serve a military function, but these essentially egalitarian organizations balance the aristocratic emphasis of Fante and Asante states. They also do not have exclusively male membership; both men and women along the same patrilineal lines join a single Asafo company. Under the British, and now in independent Ghana today, these social organizations do not fight with arms, but with art. Upon joining a company, the new member must present his or her company with a flag, made with appropriate colors and insignia.
Living along the coast of Ghana, the former Gold Coast, Fante peoples have been in contact with Europeans since the fifteenth century. This exposure to European, and particularly British, materials and visual culture has resulted in frequent borrowings. Fante Asafo military companies made flags of a European form, but used the flags to express Akan proverbs and ideas.
The Union Jack prominently featured in this flag dates the object prior to 1957 when Ghana achieved independence from the British. Many companies have sold these older flags in order to replace them with others containing the Ghanaian tricolor.
Just as the Fante borrowed the flag form from Europeans, the large winged beast was introduced in British visual culture. The dragon-like creature derives from heraldic iconography, not traditional Akan imagery. Many Asafo flag designs contain this threatening creature, thereby implying the fearsomeness of the military company. The animal is often associated with this frightening description: "It can fly, it can dig in the ground; it can go anywhere."
The overall message of this flag is unclear. Whereas the dragon-like creature has an intimidating quality, the cat (lion?) chained to the stool implies allegiance to a chieftaincy or the state (represented by the stool).
Asafo flags may be flown from special shrine buildings called posuban. A flags may also be carried by a trained performer painted on his chest, arms and legs with white pigment and dressed in a short raffia skirt, amulets, beads. These spiritually enhanced performers reenact past battles to the accompaniment of drums, gongs, and songs.
Suggested readings: Peter Adler and Nicholas Barnard, ASAFO! African Flags of the Fante. London: Thames & Hudson, 1992.
Textiles21534328216Fante (Ghana)95.032_Disc8014_80145010