Summary paper

Summary paper Who are the Akans? is a detailed article that investigates the history of the Akans thus explaining the evolution of the Ghanaian community. The article discusses the characteristics of the Akan people, which include bravery and friendliness. The Akan are known for such attributes to this day in the current day Ghana. Additionally, the article investigates the culture of the Akan people thus including some of their proverbs. Among such is help those who pay attention to them to recognize wisdom and good advice. This portrays the helpful feature of the people. The article further explains the way of life in the Akan society beginning with the process of creating a village, which then grows into a town. An Akan village has a head while a town in Akan has a stool of power and a chief as the center of the power.
The article entitled The Akan people by Adu-Amankwah provides basic information about the Akan people. The article explains that the live in central Ghana and speak the Akan language which is a collection of various dialects. The dialects they speak influence their identity since the people are often categorized in such groups. Among the existing groups based on the variety of dialects, include Wassa, Asante, Fante, Bono, Akyem, Kwahu and Akuapem. The author of the article cites several historians as he provides a detailed of the Akan people. He explains that the lived in independent kingdoms founded by refugees from Kumbu, a kingdom that consisted of twenty-seven states and was destroyed by Songhay in 1470. The economic activities of the Akan people include hunting, farming and fishing.
The article, Akan kinship terms, provides a detailed analysis of kinship in the Akan society. In doing this, the article explains that the Akan people believe in extended family system. The system is material in nature. With such an exciting yet informative introduction, the article proceeds to provide translations of some basic kinship names to English despite admitting that most of such names have no direct equivalent in English. Such terms include papa for father but the term Agya may refer to father too. Maame is for mother while Eno /Awo is an equivalent for affection though not directly transplanted as such. Nua is for sibling, kunu refers to a husband and yere for wife. A child is a significant individual in a society and the Akan refer to a child as ba.
Greetings on the other hand is an article that discuses the type of greetings in the Akan society. The article begins by acknowledging that greeting is a personal obligation in the Akan culture. The Akan consider those who do not greet people as uncultured. The Akan have greetings for morning, afternoon, evening and at nights. Greetings are so important that marriages can always break up in case greeting is not part of a spouse’s culture. The Akan must always describe the time of the day while greeting. Maakye refers to morning, Maaha for afternoon and Maadwo for both evening and nights. Dayie refers to goodnight. Just as in any other context, the greetings have responses such as Yaa opeafo, yaa amu and yaa oburu among others.