Affiliation:
1. Department of Religious Studies, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi Ghana.
Abstract
It is important to stress that, the Akan amongst many other cultures in Africa by their beliefs and practices, emphasize the individual and the societal wellbeing. Primarily, their idea of wholeness is seen to have been focused on mostly the material and spiritual needs of the human; that is, the complete satisfaction of all members of the community. The people of Amansie West Traditional Area, therefore, view poverty as undesirable and is frowned upon by society. However, the communities should help ease the stress and trauma of the poor. Such insight conforms with an old adage, wo yƆnko da ne wo da, which could in a way be literary translated as, “A friend in need is a friend indeed.” It is essential, then, to probe into the relationship that ever existed between the religio-cultural thoughts on poverty and the perceptible impact of poverty on the living conditions of the people in Amansie. The study consequently applied both qualitative and quantitative methods to extract relevant data from respondents. Semi-structured questionnaires were administered to relevant persons; an interview guide was developed to facilitate the personal interviews conducted with traditional leaders, townsfolks, religious leaders, opinion leaders, and other stakeholders. The findings among others were that poverty has a religio-cultural dimension; it is a spiritual and moral misfortune. The study recommends a Religio-Cultural Renaissance as a possible avenue to resuscitate and strengthen what otherwise looks like a dearth of religio-cultural practices of the community. A collaborative effort is therefore required by religious leaders and adherents, opinion leaders and townsfolks for sensitizing the people against cultural practices that promote poverty.
Keywords: Poverty, African Traditional Religion, Traditional leadership, Natural resources and Amansie West
Reference24 articles.
1. Agbiji, Obaji and Swart Ignatius, Religion and Social Transformation in Africa: A critical and appreciative perspective. Scriptura 114 (2015:1): 1-20.
2. Agyekum, Kofi. “The Ethnosemantics and Proverbs of ohia, ‘‘poverty’’ in Akan” Legon Journal of the Humanities 28.2 (2017): 23 – 48.
3. Berg, Bruce, Qualitative Research Methods for the Social Sciences. (New York: Pearson Educational Inc., 2007): 44.
4. Beyers, Jaco “The effect of religion on poverty”, HTS Theological Studies 70(1), Art. #2614, (2014): 1- 8.
5. Dorbbin, Dominic. “3,000 Teenager impregnated in Amansie West District” Peace FM, February 9, 2015. Accessed February 9, 2020. https://www.peacefmonline.com/pages/local/social/201502/231705.php.