A powerful Akua'ba Doll

Thirty odd years ago I took a small group of students on a zoological "expedition" to the North of Ghana. One of the things that I brought back, in addition to a bout of ague, was this Ashanti Akua'ba Doll.

These little figures with flat, disk shaped heads are carried by girls and young women, often tucked in the back of their skirts like a baby, to promote their fertility and to ensure the beauty and health of their offspring. Most have stiff cross shaped bodies, but full length figures may have articulated legs. Older akua'ba figures seem to be half figures with even more simplified, stylized cylindrical bodies. Most of the dolls are female in this matrilineal culture. Typically the necks are elongated with horizontal rings carved around the neck. The disk shaped heads and neck rings emulate the old local customs of mechanical body shaping. Many dolls wear necklaces, and/or ear rings. This one is wearing an old Venetian trade bead which is itself probably 200 years old.

We can vouch for the power of these fertility dolls - Talpa the youngest was born 10 months after I got back from Ghana.