Re-defining pre-colonial Ewe polities: the case of Abutia

Abstract

Opening ParagraphThe Abutia Ewe formed one of the colonial administrative ‘Divisions’ of Eweland under a so-called ‘traditional ruler’, the Divisional or Paramount Chief (fiagã). These Ewe Divisions are located in the southern half of the Volta Region (Ghana) and in southern Togo. Every Division is composed of a number of villages, each headed by a ‘Sub-divisional Chief’ (dufia). Only three villages are found in Abutia: Teti, Agove and Kloe. The fiagã or Divisional Chief comes from Teti.

‘International chiefs’: chieftaincy, rituals and the reproduction of transborder Ewe ethnic communities on the Ghana–Togo boundary

“…He thus asserts that what happened was an adaptation and modification of the chieftaincy institution over the years due to contact with the Akwamu (an Akan ethnic group) (Amenumey 1986: 14). Michel Verdon argues that, among precolonial (particularly northern) Ewe polities, it was villages rather than small chiefdoms under paramount rule that were the sovereign political groups (Verdon 1980: 281). He further asserts that the ‘very label chief to translate fia is thus highly questionable in the case of Abutia and possibly all Ewe-dom’ ( ibid .…”

Oracles, chieftaincies, and witchcraft accusations in south-western Togo

“…Since the eighteenth century, the region between the Volta and the Mono, which today corresponds to the southern part of Togo and south-eastern Ghana, was characterized by a plethora of small and autonomous political units (dukowo) jealous of their independence and governed by lineage chiefs, among whom the village chief (fia) was a primus inter pares (Pauvert 1960;Gayibor 1992Gayibor , 1997Verdon 1980Verdon , 1981Verdon , 1983Lawrance 2002). Village chiefs often belonged to the lineage whose founder claimed to be the first to settle in the area.…”