‘Showing-Off Aesthetics’: Looking Good, Making Relations and ‘Being in the World’ in the London Akan Diaspora

Abstract

For Akan-speaking Ghanaians in London, public events and rites of passage are constitutive of their diasporic subjectivity and sociality, re-establishing and reinforcing material and symbolic connections within the diaspora and the home country. Their participation reasserts their ontological presence in the world and renders them visible and distinct in the eyes of fellow migrants, thus denying their social marginality. This ontological presence is produced through a uniquely Akan aesthetic, realised in linguistic terms, through proverbs, mottoes and wise sayings; in material terms, through sartorial ostentation and the use and display of elaborate dresses and other material objects; in taste, through the consumption of ethnic food; and in visual terms, through the use of videos and photographs. By drawing on a range of ethnographic examples from London and Ghana, this paper shows the complex overlap between the discursive and the material in the formation of Akan migrants’ aestheticised subjectivity as they reassert their place in the London diaspora.

Keywords:

• Akan aesthetics
• Ghanaian diaspora
• multicultural London
• ontological presence
• African migration
• cultural events

Acknowledgements

This research was carried out between 2006 and 2008 with the support of the ESRC UK, as part of a project directed by Pnina Werbner on ‘New African Migrants in the Gateway City: Ethnicity, Religion, Citizenship’ (ESRC grant RES-000-23-1243). I thank the Council for its generous support. I also thank Pnina Werbner and Richard Werbner for their insightful comments and continuous support; the audience at the ASA-UK conference in Auckland and at Aberdeen University who commented on an earlier draft of this paper; and finally Nils Bubandt and three anonymous reviewers at Ethnos for their very insightful comments. I thank all my Ghanaian friends who have welcomed me with great generosity and taught me much about life in London and Ghana with great patience and understanding.

Notes

There is now a growing body of literature on the African diaspora, one that deals primarily with African Pentecostal churches (Nieswand 2005; Harris 2006; Van Djik 2007; Fumanti 2010a, Garbin 2010). For a comparable analysis on the appropriation and transformation of public spaces in the diaspora, see Stoller 2002 and Garbin 2010.

My use of the term belonging departs from the classic understanding of belonging in the anthropological literature as the nostalgic attachment to a place. In my usage, I contend that belonging needs to be understood in the aesthetic sense, one that is sensuous and deeply ontological as it refers to Ghanaian migrants’ efforts to establish a presence in the world (see Fumanti & Werbner 2012).

In this sense, the ‘showing off aesthetics’ reminds us of Friedman's (1990) description of the Congolese ‘Sappeurs’ (see also Gondola 1999). However, while the experience of ‘ Les Sappeurs’ in Europe rests exclusively on conspicuous consumption, and on a personal and individual journey aimed at the acquisition of a very exclusive sartorial elegance in the agonistic displays of ‘La Sape’, in my own usage, the ‘showing off’ aesthetics is a relational concept that encompasses two modalities of intersubjectivity: a being for, in the gaze of others, and a being with, in the care of others.

It is important here to stress how ‘showing off’ aesthetics requires and builds on the subtle negotiations of constant demands from home. Yet, although strenuous, people go a long way to make sure that the link with Ghana is kept and reinforced. These public events are a way to do that.

For a comparative analysis, see also Veblen's (1994) classic definition of conspicuous consumption.

For a broader discussion of intersubjectivity in Africa, see R. Werbner 2002.

The Heidegerrian Dasein rests on different modes of ‘standing in’ or ‘being in the world’. These are authentic or inauthentic modes. As Heidegger (1962) reminds us, an authentic mode of ‘standing in’ is based on Dasein relating himself to things in view of the whole structure of what he really is. An inauthentic mode of standing in finds Dasein so concerned with the necessities of daily life that he relates himself to things by projections, which ignore the implications of the full structure of his possibilities (Langan 1959: 22). However, both modes remain central to the experience of Dasein, ‘ontologically both are on the same footing, and both go always together to form the two faces of finitude’ (Langan 1959: 24). In this paper, I am not concerned with a distinction between these two modes, but rather with an exploration of the intersubjective mode of Dasein in the relation between situated human beings and meaningful practices and activities.

The number of Ghanaians in London is estimated at 46,000 (Office for National Statistics 2005). The total for the UK brings the number of Ghanaian migrants to 92,000 (Office for National Statistics 2008).

For a detailed analysis of the ethnographic context of my research, I refer the reader to my recent publications on Ghanaian Methodists in London (Fumanti 2010a, 2010b).

Here, my argument is not to deny the existence of class distinctions among Ghanaian migrants in London. As I have pointed out in the previous paragraph and elsewhere (Fumanti 2010a), the different trajectories of Ghanaian migrations to London bring to bear distinction in educational and professional qualifications among migrants. My point here is to stress how in the course of celebrations and rites of passage, the sartorial elegance, the generosity of giving and the showing off aesthetics bring to the fore hitherto unexpected constitutions and reconstitutions of social relations (for a similar discussion, see Akyeampong 2000).

Conversation with Y. London, 20 November 2008.

Literally translated, the expression E fata wo paa strongly relates to ideas of rank and status. E fata wo (you are carrying it well, it is of your league, of your class), most commonly used for clothes, is also used for people, especially for partners, and for cars. In this sense, this linguistic expression points to the agonistic and competitive side of a showing-off aesthetic.

These are central elements of Akan religious, social and political life and are potent reminders of Akan cultural identity (Rattray 1927).

Here, I refer to Pnina Werbner's use of the ‘indexical elaboration’ specifically in relation to Pakistani weddings in Manchester (Werbner 2002a, Chapter 9).

Sankofa is an adinkra symbol and a shortening of the popular proverb Se wo were fi na wosankofa a, yenkyi (There is nothing wrong with learning from hindsight). This reflects the Akan belief that the past serves as a guide for planning the future or the wisdom in learning from the past in building the future.

These magazines also become influential in determining emerging new fashions and styles, as I witnessed in Kumasi where women consult these pages to choose the style of dress they want.

I borrow the concept of the ‘presence of absence’ from Handelman's (1997) work on state memorialism in Israel.