Chapter 2
LITERATURE REVIEW
This section looks at various functions of boogie in the Traditional African Modern culture, especially its use for interpreting ideas such as ethics of ("Twene KÎse") celebration.
2. 1 Party and Ethics in the original African Context
Dance as an instrument for perpetuating some simple ethics of the public principles within the Ghanaian modern culture has received some attention over time. For instance, an adowa dancer begs his / her drummers to experience a good rhythm for him or her to dance and thus seeks permission from the gods, elders and drummers before dance. By this, I am discussing simple gestures that portray a feeling of admiration and acknowledgement in the modern culture. Dance is one of the effective tools for communication and region building. These help in ensuring good behavioral change locally. Relating to AbíÃbölá (2001), the term "ethics" as stated in the introductory portion of this thesis are grouped into four areas;
Normative ethics - the basis and justification of moral rules and principles
Meta ethics - this is of moral terms
Applied ethics - the nature, content and request of specific moral guidelines
Descriptive ethics - accounts of how people actually act in situations requiring moral action
AbíÃbölá highlights that, modern day thinking on ethics in African beliefs can be involved with normative and descriptive ethics. In justification to the, he argues that lots of African philosophers on this issue of ethics improve the question of the positioning of African ethics. The question is, do these ethics come out of religious doctrines (normative ethics), or are they results of reason (descriptive ethics). Ethics, as described in the introduction of the thesis connote good real human behavior with regards to other humans in a society. This is minus the inclusion of the supernatural being or religion. It really is humane, for each and every individual in a world to adopt positive characters to live peacefully in and from the community without the religious intuition. On the other hand, the traditional African, naturally, is a spiritual being whose daily affairs are based on his or her relationship with divinities (God, gods, and or ancestral spirits, etc. ). Therefore, the knowledge of ethics (which are found in the original beliefs and customs) won't depart from faith. The 'faith', 'trust', and 'fear' for the divinity by the original African makes her or him submissive to the laid down regulations of the community.
In this modern-day age, many will perhaps appreciate the relevance of ethics, which is communicated through dance. Though, boogie as a traditional activity, has experienced adulteration through the passing on from generation to technology, its use in modern choreography with all the theatrical elements like sound, light, projections, costumes and make-ups, props and other technicalities makes it more educational and applicable to formal education.
Realistically, some ethics in the traditional African context may well not be appropriate to the present day or contemporary society due to technological advancement, modernization, spiritual beliefs and disbeliefs and formal education. However, the attempt to use Ghanaian traditional dances creatively will reveal old but yet beneficial traditional prices. For example, the original benefit derived from the Dipo wedding ceremony, may have lost its relevance to the Dangme woman today, because formal education has taken up some responsibility of the dipo rite. That's where choreography as a tool, can be used to promote some honest beliefs of the dipo rite and also serve as a preservative solution for the dipo party as well.
Some ceremonial dances favorably affect the moral lives of folks within the contemporary society when their themes or templates are intended for the endorsement of good carry out. The bragoro and dipo ceremonies and party of the Dangme of Ghana is an average example. Adinku (1994) records that, dance for interpersonal ceremonies including the dipo is fixed to ladies in their puberty stage because the norms demand that, they must undertake initiation to inculcate in them the values of womanhood, and prepare them bodily and emotionally to face their feminine duties confidently. The performance of dipo and bragoro help simplify a few of the ethical and moral lessons attained in the complete ceremonies. The adowa dance of the Akan portrays some ethics. For example, a dancer may humbly plead with his or her drummers to play a good music as he or she dances by bowing and adding the right hand in the left hand, showing esteem. The dancer bows to reverence a king in state and waves his right side to greet and welcome spectators. These samples claim that some dances are indicators and tools for bringing about ethical manners in the society. Party as a non-verbal form of communication transcends cultural and racial boundaries with fewer restrictions.
Dance is fun, healing, delight, freedom, love, meditation, dynamic, a manifestation, emotional, powerful and real and because of these qualities, it draws people's attention when it's performed for an audience. These audiences are then subjected to and afflicted by the above irresistible attributes, thus, influenced by the symbolic motions carefully preferred and employed by the dancer or performer to express an emotional talk about. This thesis uses the power of dance to handle the findings of my research, which is the effect of the "Twene KÎse" event on the practice of ethics.
2. 2 The Relationship between Boogie and Ethics
Like ethical procedures of the original African society, dance is one of the oldest traditions of man performed in all public gatherings such as festivals, naming ceremonies, funerals, puberty rites, and enstoolment and disstoolement of traditional market leaders, since it graces every occasion in the life-circle of people. Within the life span cycle of these people are their ethics and matching to Nii-Yartey, a renowned Ghanaian choreographer, "in Africa, dance assists as an index to the value systems that enable the city to interpret and communicate the various events of life. " A few of these situations of life manifest the community's reaction to areas such as work, to food and shelter, communal and economical conditions, religious values and disbeliefs, moments of happiness and sadness. Each one of these are captured in the dances of areas, thus, the Africans' life-style in totality is shown in his or her dance.
To most Africans, boogie is a habit formation, thus, one evolves the interest and ability to dance as you participates in events associated with party. He or she becomes familiar with the requirements and ideals of the party, because the dos and don'ts of each dances learnt are also congruent to societal norms. For example, a fontonfrom, nagila and adowa dancer, during talk about functions, will pay homage by bowing to the king, requesting for authorization to dance. In the same way in our modern culture, an Ashanti man will remove one of is own footwear, lower the cloth on his kept shoulder and bow to greet or shake hands with an Ashanti King. Furthermore, an $kyer1me will lower his cloth to the waist level, marginally place his right foot forward while stepping on the tail-end of his sandals before pouring libation. Is unveiled to the societal moral requirements which form the ethical practices and guidelines of culture as she or he studies through participation. Therefore, the assumption is that you becomes morally upright predicated on ones degree of participation in dance, and his or her responds to its requirements. Morality is not ours originally, but learnt through socialization locally. Hence, as the African grows, he or she learns through this habit development to choose to do what's right from wrong. That is so because, to be morally right is no in-born trait, but acquired with the options one makes. One, therefore, bears the expense of the nice or bad she or he purchases.
One of the most crucial rules of the African is the family system - the interdependency of the African. Thus, the challenge of 1 person is the task of all. This is not different in their boogie performances. One does not 'perform' in isolation because there will be no one to drum, sing, or hail the dancer and these are predominant in the African party performance. Dancers mostly perform in teams at interpersonal functions, and admirers may hail them by clapping or walking into the dancing diamond ring and correcting a coin on the forehead of the dancer. Gyekye (1996) opines that, "the African is by nature a public being oriented towards others in a community of persons. Community life directly includes a person in social and moral functions, responsibilities, commitments and commitments that must definitely be fulfilled. " The Ghanaian is recognized as a community member and for that reason, seeks to uphold the worth inherent in these commitments. These social responsibilities will be the moral specifications which summarize the ethics of the city. What Gyekye says is not different from the direction of this review because, the matter of the social being to reside in a world of peace, prepares her or him to stick to ethical techniques and ideas of the community for posterity. Some of these ethical practices and principles are available in the original dances and the festival activities of the African, while some are found in the day-to-day activities of men and women in the community, exist in isolation and for that reason, are getting diminished. With changes that have occurred in our ethical life credited to modernization, perhaps party, through the medium of choreography can take the substance of some of these values and bring them to attention of this modern community.
The African lives for his community and Anthony Egan confirms this by his declaration that "If the foundation of African ethics is the idea of humanness, what's to be always a person, ubuntu recognizes this humanness as personhood in the community: a person is a person through other folks. " This confirms the earlier point brought up that no one lives in isolation in the African system: a person life because others live; therefore, his / her activities affect the improvement of the world. In light of the aforementioned, therefore, there is no hesitation that the distinctive features which help discover the African people are their ethnic practices, sociable activities and prices, spiritual and traditional values, and principally their dance and musical customs.
2. 3 The Meaning of Ethics and its own Relevance to the Study
In other to situate this research work within the framework of ethics, some assertions by philosophical scholars such as Gyekye, Mbiti, Kant yet others will be looked at.
According to Gyekye (1987), the Ghanaian similar phrase for ethics is suban. He clarifies that,
"ethics" may be translated as suban ho nimdee or suban ho adwendwen, studies or reflections on identity, a rendition which, in stressing the notion of character, agrees with the Akan conception of morality and therefore can correctly be used, sometimes with an additional phrase or words to mirror modern use, as the Akan equivalent for the term "ethics".
In his contention, suban is so essential and because of this, it is given a central put in place the Ghanaian moral words and thought that it can be considered as summing up the complete notion of morality. For example, an Akan will say, "He has no figure" (onni suban) rather than, "He does not have any morals. " That is, onni suban is mostly used if one is talking about the negative moral position of someone else. The word pa or papa, meaning "good" is sometimes added to the sentence to help make the meaning clearer in a moral sense. For instance, onni suban pa (he does not have any good personality, or his conduct is unethical). The opposite of this statement is, owo suban pa (he has moral, or he is ethical, moral). That is clearly a person with a praiseworthy personality. This calls for our dialogue to the meaning of character and its relationship to ethics.
Gyekye again defines figure as "a state or condition of a soul which "causes" it to execute its activities spontaneously and easily". This presupposes that, the moral behavior of a person is innate so that he or she grows, the culture teaches him or her to adopt good character to act positively at all times and in spontaneous situations. To get this, Kant (1724-1804), declares that, "become if the basic principle on which your action is situated were to became, because of your will, a widespread laws of nature". Kant's statement has bearing in the Akan proverb that says abaa a yÎde b4 Tekyi no, yÎde b4 Baah. That is basically translated as, "do what you want others to do unto you" or and therefore one should be mindful of his actions in order never to negatively affect other people. According to Kant, one must be completely aware of activities, whether good or bad, so that he / she will be completely responsible for the results thereafter. Bad people are not welcomed in social gathering such as festivals and therefore do not add up to the decision makers of the community. Alternatively, a person is believed to have the capability of changing from unacceptable behaviors to satisfactory habits through the teaching of moral prices embedded in proverbs, traditional dances and folktales. Such people become part of the modern culture because, it is living virtuously that humans can give meaning to their communal life and living.
Johnson's (2004) article on Kant's "Moral Beliefs" suggests his (Kant's) substitution of ethics with morals and proposes that "Once we "look for and set up" the essential rule of morality a priori, then we may consult facts drawn from experience in order to regulate how best to apply this theory to human beings and generate particular conclusions about how precisely we ought to act". Kant has seen that, to understand what ethics is really, an in-depth research of the moral strategy must be desired. For example, Saint Augustine (354-430), as he searched for to reinterpret the virtues of traditional Greece says, "Temperance, courage, justice and knowledge are expressions of Religious virtue". In such a route, an action is regarded as right if it's in agreement with a moral guideline or basic principle. The understanding of the concept of 'good will', 'responsibility', 'work', etc as well as their rational relationship to one another, is inevitably linked with the African concept of ethics; thus, we can determine the rationality of your respective activities; whether he does indeed what is right or what is wrong.
To buttress this point, Bantham Jeremy (1748-1832) positions that, "correct actions are the ones that result in the best happiness for the greatest number of people". To stay in a harmonious ON environment with one another, one's deeds must result in the greatest amount of joy and pleasure to him or herself as well as people around him. To Jeremy, one's happiness is quantifiable to products of pleasure, therefore less products of pain.
However, Socrates (469-399bc) concepts of ethics that "every person has full understanding of ultimate truth comprised within the spirit and needs and then be spurred to conscious reflection to be remembered as aware of it". The best real truth found within the spirit of the African, as confirmed by Gyekye, is interpreted in the Akan proverb that says, "no-one shows the child where God is". In other words, a good child knows what's right from incorrect which is as a result of ultimate fact, which can be an in-born-trait which is contained in the soul of the individual. Although some African thinkers contain the view that, the punishment directed at someone who has gone against an ethical rule may spur on others from committing the same crime, others carry a different view on the matter. For instance, when a parent or guardian disciplines a kid for insubordination, it spurs on other children from doing same. Alternatively, the idea of motivating visitors to do the right thing will not sit down well with others. Because the ultimate reality is embedded in everyone, it presupposes that certain does not need to be encouraged to do what is right. Socrates' ideology relating to ethics is to incite visitors to do the right thing and therefore, without incentives people might not consciously think about the knowledge of "ultimate truths. " I agree with the two assertions because, from child years one experiences moral virtues through habit-forming activities such as traditional dances, folk tales and others that include performing traditional tunes and proverbs for socialization. Furthermore, the contemporary society bears the responsibility of helping to discipline a child when she or he goes wrong, because of the collective perspective of culture for the upbringing of its members. Whenever a child goes incorrect, the onus falls on the customers of the community to self-discipline that child.
One significant example witnessed within my research trip is my connection with the sacred atmosphere the Adjumako-Kokoben town experience a month before the celebration of "Twene KÎse" festivities. Folks are necessary to eschew antisocial behaviors especially during the festivity season. Unethical behaviours such as stealing, gossiping, struggling with and desecrating of sacred centers like the Twene KÎse shrines and mpusuban are highly prohibited. This is because the period of the festivity is considered holy, where spirits of departed ancestors come back home to get ready the lands for the up-and-coming occurrences. The city frowns on people who go contrary to this ethical guideline and culprits are summoned and fined by their traditional council. Through the festival, such folks are ridiculed with insulting sounds to spur on others during the celebration of the "Abangye" which leads to the climax of the "Twene KÎse" festivity. It is also a notion that, the spiritual entity that protects the city with it source from the deity, Twene KÎse, does not condone unethical people in the culture. This boosts the question of whether or not the ethical guidelines or rules have a web link with the supernatural or their traditional faith. However, John Mbiti (1969) agrees that ethical rule practiced worldwide may promote tranquility and tranquility among people. He points out that;
As in every societies of the world, interpersonal order and peacefulness are identified by African people as essential and sacred. Where the sense of commercial life is so profound, it is unavoidable that the solidarity of the city must be mentioned, normally there are disintegration and devastation.
He thinks that, the African community is destined as well as kinship relationship and therefore the unethical deeds of one person affect the entire community. This becomes sacrilegious during the 'holy' times of traditional festivals.
For the goal of this dissertation, the term suban will be adopted, thus, the mandatory suban proposed by either the community or the gods (supernatural entities) to be used in socio-cultural and politics activities. Theories of philosophers concerning the source of ethics in the original African society with regards to my research conclusions will be pursued in the next section.
2. 4 Theoretical Framework
2. 4. 1 Ethical Concerns in African Cultural Standpoint
Many scholars have written extensively on the moral concerns in the traditional African societies. Some have attributed the African's practice of ethics to their religious beliefs while others have disputed the fact and said that, ethics have less to do with religion. One of such philosophers who have suggested a marriage between your African's way of life and religious beliefs is Kofi A. Opoku (1974). He records;
The phenomenon of faith is so pervasive in the life of the Akan, therefore inextricably bound up with their culture, that it is not easy to isolate what is purely spiritual from other aspects of life. It may be said without fear or exaggeration that life in the Akan world is religion, and religion is life.
According to Opoku, the African cannot segregate himself from faith and hence faith influences his moral obligations, and therefore the Akan morality is dependant on religion. Quite simply, a person's moral expectations are to a huge extent dependent on his religious beliefs. Furthermore, Opoku (1978) creates on Akan morality and claims that, "Generally, morality evolves from spiritual considerations, and so pervasive is religion in African culture that ethics and religious beliefs cannot be segregated from one another". The original African is seen as a religious being through his daily reverence to divinities in his / her life circle; labor and birth, puberty or initiation and fatality. When a child exists, libation is poured to ask for blessing for it and give thanks to the gods because of its save entry from the supernatural to the natural world. In some cases, labels of ancestors who led moral lives receive to the kid to honor them. Puberty (a period that marks the start of adulthood in both men and women), farming, sportfishing, hunting, enstoolment and distoolment of chiefs aren't performed without the consent of the deity, in order the death rite of individuals. These activities will be the customs and notion systems of the traditional people. Some of the customs and belief systems of the African community contain some ethics. The ideas behind their techniques are advantageous and connote morality locally. For instance, it is unethical for one to whistle and sweep at night in the most Akan societies. Whistling may entice snakes, which can bite one to death. Just as, precious tiny objects may be swept away at night. These are values which when practiced becomes good for the people. Can it also be said that the gods propounded these values? Bishop Sarpong, to get the above discourse state governments, "Ethics here merges with religious methods, and assumes communal proportions. Among the list of Ghanaian, every ethical do may be reported to be religiously orientated". Busia (1969) a distinctive scholar of Ghanaian culture also declares that faith decides the moral duties for the members of an organization or tribe. Finally, Mbiti reinforces that, "there are present, therefore, many laws, customs, set types of behaviors, regulations, guidelines (â), constituting the moral code and ethics of confirmed community or contemporary society. A few of these are placed sacred, and are thought to have been instituted by Godâ. " Each one of these assertions agree that ethics is barely segregated from religion, and religion has it source from Supreme Being (God or gods), not man.
However, Kwame Gyekye, Segun Gbadegesin, Kwasi Wiredu and Polycarp Ikuenobe disagree with all the above cases. To them, moralities have less regarding religion where in fact the source of this religion is God. Gyekye explains that, through his research in the Akan community, no person attributed rules of moral patterns to instructions from God. Nonetheless, Gyekye clarifies the relationship of Akan morality's reliance on faith, and he provides two distinctions. He categorically declares;
It must mean or imply: (1) that moral concept such as "good, " "bad, " "right, " "wrong, " and "ought" are (to be) to be described in terms of spiritual prescriptions or the commands of some supernatural being; (2) that moral beliefs, principles and ideas derive logically from those of faith and therefore, (3) that spiritual prescriptions provide the necessary justification for moral values, key points and judgments. Finally, (4) the moral do of individuals is set or greatly influenced by their spiritual beliefs.
He distinguishes the aforementioned assertion of religious beliefs merging with morality and explains morality as referring,
Either to a set of social guidelines and norms for guiding and regulating the carry out of individuals in a modern culture, or behavior style, that is, reactions or attitudes to such guidelines and norms. Thus, we speak not only of moral guidelines, values, and prescription, but also of moral action, meaning habit in conformity with accepted moral values and guidelines: the moral person in one whose frame of mind or reaction to moral rule is satisfactory and commendable. So the idea of the religious dependence on morality will involve not only the sources of moral rules and rules, but also the affects that affect habits of tendencies.
Gyekye proves that we now have obvious distinctions with both of these implications and for example, vivid analysis must be done in this aspect to avoid people from the mistake of given incorrect conclusion on the problem of religion and morality in the African culture.
According to Tufuhene Akorful IV and $kyer1ma Kwaku Aky1 from the Adjumako-Kokoben traditional Area, ethics are the morals prices within the perception systems of the city that promote suitable behaviours and were passed on from other forefathers unto them. Here, 'forefathers' make reference to the ancestors and traditional priests of the town. They believe individuals do not agree to acknowledgement for adding to the welfare of the city, rather, intelligence is ascribed to people of old or ancestors, priest and gods. They therefore say that that, through the intelligence of the ancestor and the gods, honest guidelines for moral tendencies in the town, are propounded and communicated through their traditional priest unto folks. In this instance, one see two underlining features over here; the ancestors who were once human and the gods. Can it be that the specialist of ethics is a shared responsibility of humans and the supernatural? Yes, because the original faith is a relationship between man and the supernatural, and even though one is supreme on the other and could be the service provider of ethics, the less supreme also has similar responsibility to make moral rules to protect his / her community. Yet, she or he will not take glory for his achievements, but ascribes it to the gods or ancestors.
The Adjumako-Kokoben people believe the original priest to the "Twene KÎse" god is the greatest priest of all times. He (the Twene Kese priest) helps to protect his people by giving ethical rules. They are found within their opinion systems.
Table 1.
The ethics found in some perception systems of the Adjumako-Kokoben people
Examples Of Some Opinion Systems In Adjumako-Kokoben
The Ethics In Such Perception Systems
Do not bring a lot of Plantain called apim to the home. Cut some fingers off first.
By lowering some fingertips off, it encourages posting with others in the contemporary society.
Do not bring a whole palm super fruit to the house. Cut off some fruits first.
Share a few of the palm fruits with a neighbor.
Do not pound fufu at night.
Eating heavy food during the night may cause abdomen upset. Insects or objects may fall in the fufu during pounding and cause harm to those who eat it.
Do not go to the channels when menstruating or have a trim on the body.
Diseases may be sent to other people.
Do not bring dog to town.
They are thought to carry bad soul, which make a difference the blessings of men. They can also piece and transfer diseases as well.
Cut lengthy firewood into shorter bits before delivering them home.
They occupy plenty of space. The carrier may injure someone with it due to the length of the log. Unbalance may break the throat of the carrier.
2. 5 Ethical Theories
The fundamental principle of morality binds every specific in a community because ethics are about how to reside a good life wherever one discovers him or herself. Meaning, harmonious life in a community is determined by obeying the ethical concepts therein. Richard T. Hull (1979), in his paper, "The Varieties of Ethical Ideas", talks about various ethical theories and states the two important types of moral theory:
those based on the notion of choosing one's actions so as to maximize the worthiness or ideals to be expected as consequences of these activities (called consequentialist or teleological ideas [from the Greek telos, indicating aim or purpose]; and those based on the notion of choosing one's activities according to requirements of duty or responsibility that refer never to implications but to the nature of activities and the motives that are kept by those undertaking them (called deontological ideas [from the Greek deon, and therefore which is necessary or binding]).
Teleological theory holds that an action is morally right when a person doing it results in the best attainable consequences in the situation. In other words, whichever activity an individual sees him or herself doing, he or she must make sure that the end product of that activity produces the best achievable results. For instance, when a woman who is menstruating would go to the riverside and contaminates the water with her blood vessels, will that produce the best attainable consequences to the community? No. diseases may be transmitted to other folks in the community who drink from the same source. However, if she delivers a neighbor of friend who is not in the same situation as hers, then your outcomes of her action will be good.
The second part of the theory shows that, an action is morally right if the action is of a kind which would not necessarily cause the best attainable effects but will be the best alternative anticipated to standards of duty and obligation. In cases like this, people act in accordance with their moral obligation. That's, some Islam areas promote the enforcement of the 'Sharia Rules', while other neighborhoods do not. This 'Sharia Law' becomes a moral obligation for Islamic communities that practice it. Therefore, any action used over a culprit of the Sharia law is considered ethically right.
Hull further explains that, it is the goodness or badness of the consequences of activities alone which makes them right or incorrect, alternatively than anything intrinsically good or bad about the activities themselves. In this case, it'll be right to deliberately kill a person for case if so doing provides or produce the best balance of good over evil than other options at that materials moment. This, relating to Hull, is the theory of tool. To buttress this aspect, Jim Sherman (2004) declares under the idea of utilitarianism that, there is only one basic concept in ethics that is certainly of utility; the creation of the greatest possible balance of value over disvalue for all persons affected.
Two divisions under the utilitarian theory get this to conversation more interesting. That's, the function and guideline utilitarian. The first keeps that the utilitarian process of utility is to be applied to particular situations, which implies that, one must find out which option possible action performed in a specific situation produces a online tool function. In this respect, the right function is defined as the the one that has the better net electricity than its alternatives. Some may be said to have flouted moral rule if he does indeed the other alternatives because the end product of any of the alternatives wouldn't normally be to maximize the balance of positive over negative value in his environment or population. Hull opines that, "take action utilitarianism" is sometimes called situational ethics.
A rule utilitarian theory on the other side holds that we are usually, if not always, to tell how to proceed in particular situations by appeal to a guideline like this of truth-telling, alternatively than by asking what particular action will possess the best effects in a particular circumstances. That is, it is morally right to tell the reality or do the right things in the population, but if doing the right thing (as in telling the reality) will not create the best achievable consequence, a guideline utilitarian is prepared to revise his guidelines in the light of his experience.
In the African traditional modern culture, I belief the action and rule utilitarianism theory is practiced concurrently at different situations. Though there may be rules and responsibilities designed for community members to follow, people upon their approach to situation react to them according with their ethical principles. Failure to do something 'positively' to such situations may be observed or thought to be flouting the ethics of the community and culprits could be punished according to the intensity of their offence.
2. 6 Conclusion
Ethical concerns in the traditional African societies are a sophisticated subject because of the religious inclination of the African. However, the positioning of the choreographer will be based on the results at his project site and his personal knowledge and experience on the topic. His interpretation of this issue through dance motions could be more purposeful for the knowledge of the practice of ethics in this contemporary era.
