Anansi or Ananse is an Akan folktale character associated with stories, wisdom, knowledge, and trickery, most commonly depicted as a spider, in Akan folklore. Taking the role of a trickster, he is also one of the most important characters of West African, African American and West Indian folklore. Originating in Ghana, these spider tales were transmitted to the Caribbean by way of the transatlantic slave trade.
Illustration used by Puerto Rican storyteller Tere Marichal.
The Akan people are a Kwa group living primarily in present-day Ghana and in parts of Ivory Coast and Togo in West Africa. The Akan speak dialects within the Central Tano branch of the Potou–Tano subfamily of the Niger–Congo family. Subgroups of the Akan people include: the Agona, Akuapem, Akwamu, Akyem, Anyi, Ashanti, Baoulé, Bono, Chakosi, Fante, Kwahu, Sefwi, Wassa, Ahanta, and Nzema, among others. The Akan subgroups all have cultural attributes in common; most notably the tracing of matrilineal descent in the inheritance of property, and for succession to high political office.
Cast brass weights used to measure precise amounts of gold dust. Weights in this system were developed in the seventeenth century. These weights are from the nineteenth century.
17th Century Akan Terracotta – Metropolitan Museum of Art
Akan Woman.
Akan metalwork from the Brooklyn Museum, New York City, United States.
