Adwenhoasem: an Akan theory of mind

Abstract

This essay explores the way the domain of what English-speakers call the mind -believing, thinking, feeling, and other mental acts -is represented and mapped by Ghana's Akan ethno-linguistic group. It uses several sources of evidence: mind and mind-related words in Fante (an Akan language); the largest Akan (Twi) proverb compendium; longsemi-structured interviews with forty adult Christians and African traditional religion practitioners; and short-term ethnographic fieldwork by a Ghanaian scholar. The work finds four dimensions of what we might call an Akan theory of mind that seem to be shaped by local language and culture. First, the central function of the mind is planning -not identity. Second, one of the most salient qualities of the mind is its moral valence. The 'bad minds' of others are an ever-present potential threat to social harmony and personal well-being. Third, the mind is understood to be porous in nature. The minds of all people are vulnerable to supernatural influences, and some spiritually powerful people can exert supernatural power through mental action. Fourth and finally, some elements which English-speakers would imagine as part of the mind (like feeling) are instead identified with the body.

To Believe Is Not to Think: A Cross-Cultural Finding

“…Across all our studies and sites, there was only one exception to the pattern that held everywhere else: Among Ghanaian participants, preferential use of gye dzi (the Fante counterpart to “believe”) for religious as opposed to matter-of-fact attitudes was present, but attenuated, in Studies 1–2, and absent in Study 3. This may simply be an experimental artifact, but it raises the intriguing possibility that in Ghana—a setting where thought and talk about the supernatural is quite commonplace (Dulin, 2020 ; Dzokoto, 2020 )—many people hold more matter-of-fact attitudes about religious ideas (see the Supplemental Materials for further discussion). Conversely, there may also be cultural settings or spheres of discourse in which people hold “religious” belief attitudes about factual content; for example, recent years have made it clear that beliefs about such “here-and-now” matters as disease transmission and election security can become central parts of people’s identities and can be extremely difficult to counter with factual evidence.…”

‘Not as single spies’: a review of European Social Anthropology 2020

“…In particular, he identifies a certain 'porosity' of mind in common, which especially reflects the vulnerability experienced by individuals of both persuasions to spirits, demons and cosmic forces, especially witchcraft. Further fieldwork in Ghana in a rural setting, again comparing theories of mind across a sample of Christian believers and 'traditional' religionists, informs Dzokoto (2020), who observes a localised shared representation of mental action which prioritises external function and social presentation over inward-focused cognition. The contrasts and similarities between rural and urban-dwelling Christians in China highlighted by Ng (2020) reveal a somewhat different scenario where village-dwelling congregants experienced a porosity of mind, especially prone to the Devil's corrupt intervention, while in metropolitan Shanghai believers inclined to more bounded, psychological notions of the mind as an entity.…”

“A Lot of Ghanaians Really Don’t Understand the Work We Do” – Cultural Adaptations and Barriers in Ghanaian Psychotherapy Practice

“…Pentecostal and neocharismatic Christianity constitute a large proportion of those professing Christianity in the current decade (Meyer, 2004). Both Christian and non-Christian Ghanaians believe to some degree that human minds, lives, and bodies are susceptible to potent, positive, and negative supernatural influences (Dzokoto, 2020). This fundamental belief of how the world works influences attributions of misfortune, help-seeking behavior, and the belief in spiritual intervention in life events (Asamoah-Gyadu, 2007; Salifu Yendork et al, 2019).…”