Indigenous Gold and Silver Forging in Kumasi, Ghana

PI: Kodzo Gavua | Project ID: 2019LG06 | Location of Research: Kumasi, Ghana | Host Institution: University of Ghana

For centuries, gold forging and ornamentation have been central elements of the Akan chieftaincy and Ghanaian royalty. Figureheads have thus engaged and commissioned traditional goldsmiths to produce regalia that symbolises particular clans and families. Smiths also serve the public, producing ornamentation to mark traditional milestones like birth, puberty, marriage, and even death. Globalisation is now threatening this rich tradition, impacting the industry, knowledge transfer, and appeal of traditional forged-gold items.

This project’s fieldwork took place in Kumasi, the Asante regional capital, between three gold and silver workshops whose production has not been altered by global markets and technological advances. In addition to the production process, the project team also sought to document spiritual, cognitive, and social phenomena that may underpin the smiths’ operations. A total of six knowledge-holders contributed, including the Asante King’s personal smith and the Asante Regional Chairman of the Federation of Ghanaian Goldsmiths and Jewelers Association. These craftsmen work primarily in white gold and dark gold but also incorporate silver and gold-plated brass in their practices.

Methodology

After establishing a rapport through two local workshops and connecting with another through these informants, the project team documented the daily operations of the three workshops through visual and audio-visual recording. Knowledge-holders, their clients, and neighbors were consulted in shaping the narrative direction of the project’s documentation. In this, particular attention was given to the smiths’ backgrounds and the challenges of the rapidly transforming production landscape. The resulting data covers tools and equipment, raw materials, gold and silver production technique, ritual performance, and finished personal ornaments.

Selected Assets

The following provide an overview of the project’s facets.

Acknowledgements

The success of this project is first indebted to its community knowledge-holders, the goldsmiths Yaw Asamoah, Akwasi Afrifrisipong, Osei Kwabena, Asiamah Kwasi Peter, and the smith and apprentice smith to the Asante King. Visual anthropologists Jacob Nii Marley and David Tei-Mensah Adjartey were integral in collecting the project’s photography and videography, respectively.