Documenting Ghana

Photo research project, which is part of the Northern Ghana Life project (exhibition and book), at the Tamale Centre for Photographic Research and Practice, in Bank street, Tamale, until 15th November 2018.

The Dagomba people of Northern Ghana are a patriarchal society and exhibit a patrilineal system of inheritance. However, there exists also a number of female chiefs, or Pag Naa. The Pag Nana is the female traditional leader of an area or community. The paramount female chief of Dagbon is the Gundo Naa: the chief of Gundogu. All female chiefs in Dagbon are subordinate to the Gundo Naa and hold their authority and influence in relation to hers.

Like the Ya Naa, who is the paramount chief or king of the Dagomba, the Gundo Naa is the highest female authority among the Dagomba. The duties of the female chief include the settlement of disputes, the summoning of women for communal labour, supervision over the preparation of ceremonial foods during festivals, and the general day to day administration of female matters within her society. She is also consulted when a new male chief is to be enskinned in her area of jurisdiction, including the Ya Naa himself. Among the Dagomba, it is believed that it is only the woman who knows the real father if her children. So, in order not to bring different descendants unto the throne, the woman, and in this case the female chief, is the right person to consult and guide the selection process.

The best-known female chiefs in Ghana are the so-called “Queen-mothers”, ofbthe Akan of Southern Ghana. These cannot be compared to the female chiefs of the Dagomba, however. Their position is very different in many respects. The portraits in this section depict several female chiefs dressed in their traditional regalia. These consist of a combination of handwoven cloth and parts of animal skins, signifying authority.

I was only recently introduced to the phenomenon of the Dagomba female chiefs, when on a trip to Yendi. Here I visited the palace of the incumbent Gundo Naa, Hajia Samata. Coming from Southern Ghana and knowing little about chieftancy in Northern Ghana in terms of its chieftancy succession, I saw this project as an opportunity to learn and contribute to the (visual) conversation about the role of female chiefs in Ghanaian society. The project also forms an extension to my earlier work in Gambaga, also in the north, on the gendered subjugation of women and alleged female witchcraft.

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