Abstract
The idea of “home” is a significant occurrence in postcolonial literature, as it connects to other ideas as identity, nationhood, and culture. This paper discusses “home” in Ghanaian poetry focusing on three well-regarded poets: Kofi Awoonor, Kofi Anyidoho, and Mawuli Adzei. These poets come from the Ewe ethnic group, and engage with the Pan-African project in both their scholarly and creative expressions. Drawing on John Berger, Sara Dessen, and Ewe thought on the afterlife, this paper suggests two major types of “home” in the works of these three poets: the physical, and the metaphysical. Physical “home” refer to the Wheta traditional area, Ghana, Africa and her Diaspora, while the metaphysical refers to tsieʄe or aʋlime - the afterlife. The paper also discusses why “home” is significant to these poets and how their portrayal of ‘home’ is a starting point for the next generation of Ghanaian poets.
Recommended Citation
Agbozo, Gabriel Edzordzi
"Revisiting "Home" in Ghanaian Poetry: Awoonor, Anyidoho and Adzei."
CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture
21.6
(2019):
<https://doi.org/10.7771/1481-4374.3007>
This text has been double-blind peer reviewed by 2+1 experts in the field.
The above text, published by Purdue University Press ©Purdue University, has been downloaded 1082 times as of 10/27/23.
Included in
African Languages and Societies Commons, Comparative Literature Commons, Literature in English, Anglophone outside British Isles and North America Commons, Poetry Commons, Religious Thought, Theology and Philosophy of Religion Commons