Field Spirits of the Fante Collection

Item set

Collection Title
Field Spirits of the Fante Collection
Alternate Title
Field Spirits of the Fante
Collection ID
AR_0001
Creator
Richard Douglass, Ph.D.
Nana Araba Apt
Marian Sylvia Horowitz
Date
1870-1940
Abstract
These objects, linked to a period of approximately 1870-1940, offer a glimpse into the subtle influence of colonial oversight. Field spirits were crafted to protect women and children, homes, crops, domestic animals, and providers (hunters) and also displayed warnings to those venturing onto protected lands, fields, homes, or pilfering from the property owner. The reliance on such objects indicates that longstanding conversion to Christianity among the Fante did not replace traditional beliefs about the security of homes, crops, domestic animals, and people.

These examples of field spirits are rare because they were tools, not created to be objects of art, but crafted to offer specific protection and security for the people who placed them in the fields. Environmental exposure and insects, particularly termites, destroy wooden objects in West Africa very quickly. It is precisely because such field spirits were normally left in the fields that very few remain.
Owned By
Florida A&M University Meek-Eaton Southeastern Regional Black Archives Research Center and Museum
Credit Line
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.
Restrictions and Rights
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.
Spatial Coverage
en On Display
Data
Field Spirits of the Fante
Medium
wood
Subject
African Agriculture Ghana 1870-1940
Source
Ghana, Africa, West Africa, South West regions of modern-day Ghana
Category
African Artifacts and Objects
Type
Agriculture
Labor
Spirituality
Superstitions
African Culture
Indigenous Religion
Farming

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