CULTURAL PERFORMANCE PRACTICES OF AKAN FOLK GAMES ACROSS THREE GHANAIAN COMMUNITIES

Abstract

Akan folk games are commonly described as recreational or educational activities, yet their cultural significance is produced through performance: bodies move in patterned formations, songs regulate action, rules organize conduct, and local narratives connect play to collective memory. This study examines the cultural performance practices of selected Akan folk games across Asotwe in the Ashanti Region, Drobo in the Bono Region, and Kade in the Eastern Region of Ghana. The study adopted a qualitative, multi-case ethnographic design within a broader doctoral project. Expert purposive sampling technique was used to select Thirty-nine participants: nine traditional authorities and elders, six basic school-teachers, and twenty-four youth and students. Data were generated through interviews, focus group discussions, field observations, audio-visual documentation, and field notes. The data were analyzed thematically and compared across communities. Thirteen games were documented, including Antoankyire, As?/Teele, Mpeewa, Ampe, Kurop?, Krodom, Dua ooo Dua, Karikokoo, Merep?-Kwan-M’asen/Mak?, Kwasiada Frankaa, Kyem-p?, Karikokoo, and Twe-ma-Mentwe. The findings show a shared performance grammar built around communal participation, song, rhythm, bodily movement, spatial formation, rule-following, correction, and audience involvement. At the same time, local versions preserved distinct histories and linguistic forms. The games also functioned as practical pedagogies for language, numeracy, classification, coordination, cooperation, and moral formation. The study argues that Akan folk games are embodied community archives rather than marginal childhood amusements. The study recommends the selected Akan folk games preservation should therefore be community-specific and multimodal, retaining movement, sound, language, spatial organization, rules, and historical interpretation.