The Totem

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Unknown Artist

1970-1980

Florida A&M University Meek-Eaton Southeastern Regional Black Archives Research Center and Museum

wood

H x W: 111cm x 25cm I 44" x 10"

The totem was produced by an unknown craftsman who might have been Fante but could have been a member of any of the other tribal Akan groups in southwest and coastal Gold Coast (Ghana). Totems are common throughout much of Sub-Saharan Africa to mark properties and to designate property boundaries. This piece is distinct from the Lobi pieces in that the craftsmanship is much more primitive than that of the field spirits. The totem is retained in this collection primarily to demonstrate the devastation of elemental and insect exposure to exposed wood in West Africa and, therefore, to illustrate why the collection of field spirits is rare.

Field Spirits of the Fante

Ghana Africa

Field Spirits of the Fante

African Artifacts and Objects

Agriculture
Labor
Spirituality
Superstitions
African Culture
Indigenous Religion
Farming

Collection of the Meek-Eaton Southeastern Regional Black Archives Research Center and Museum, Gift of Nana Araba Apt, Marian Sylvia Horowitz, and Richard Douglas, Ph.D.

All rights reserved. The use of any part of these objects and photographs transmitted in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, or stored in a retrieval system without the prior written consent of MEBA is an infringement of the copyright law.

Photo Rights and Courtesy Reserved to Melanie Reyes Photography, and Richard Douglass, Ph.D. NO RIGHTS TO USE THESE IMAGES WITHOUT EXPRESSED WRITTEN CONSENT. SUBJECT TO COPYRIGHT (c)2023

en On Display

AR_0001_03_0010