The exterior wall of a compound built with sun-dried bricks. The varying sizes of the bricks suggest that rooms may have been added at different times. An entrance to the compound midway along the wall has been filled in with smaller blocks or atakpame. Goats find shelter from the heat of the day beneath the roof's thatched overhang. Ahenkro, August, 1986.
Women of Kafͻnͻ Katoo gather around multiple hearths in the compound's courtyard preparing the day's main meal. Kitchen equipment ranging from locally made pottery, metal pots, sieving baskets and headpans are visible. The women sit on low stools, some carved and others made from sawn boards. Posts surrounding several hearths create a rack for storing items. Thatch - and metal-roofed rooms surround the courtyard. Ahenkro, July-August, 1986.
Several men work together to replace thatch on the roof of Kafͻnͻ (Kafono) Katoo. Part of the compound has a metal roof, and the building's exterior walls are richly decorated. The bicycle pictured on the wall belonged to an Elder in the house. It is said to have been the first bicycle in Banda. Ahenkro, July-August, 1986.
A view across a compound courtyard toward the courtyard of a neighboring house. Several hearths have clay pots resting on their hearth stones (gbunu in Nafaanra). Two wooden mortars are nearby. The house in the distance is made of sun-dried blocks, with one side of the house roofed with metal and the other side thatch. The ground is clear of plants and clean swept. Adadiem, 1994.
A view of houses along the north side of Makala's wide main street, looking northwest toward the Banda hills. Visible are atakpame (coursed earthen-walled) houses with thatched roofs. The exterior walls of some buildings are plastered. The streets and areas around houses are kept clear of plants. Makala, June-July, 1990.
Banda Research Project team members wearing blue shirts with the "Unity" logo and dresses embroidered in blue process down Ahenkro's main street from the Paramount Chief's palace to the Banda Cultural Centre for the centre's commissioning ceremony. Ann B. Stahl-- just enstooled as an honorary Queen Mother by the Banda Traditional Council under the stool name Lelɛɛ Yadwo Gongo II--is carried in a palanquin lined with kente cloth and shaded by one of the chief's royal umbrellas. A woman in local-made strip woven cloth stands left, with Binghamton University MA student Alex Caton wearing local dress to her right. To her right in blue-embroidered dresses are project team members Doris Millah and Doris Mensah. Visible in the background are the thatched and iron roofs of houses lining Banda-Ahenrko's main street. Ahenkro, 21 July, 1995.
Rights:
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial
Publisher:
University of Victoria Libraries
Location(s) Facet:
Ahenkro
Subjects:
Queen Mother; Banda Cultural Centre; Umbrella; Palanquin; Banda Research Project
Subjects Facet:
Rites and ceremonies; West African strip weaving; Thatched roofs; Metal roofing; Textiles; Clothing; Kente cloth; Litters (vehicles); Royal regalia
A view of Makala's wide main street, standing under a mango tree at the east end of town looking westward. Houses with thatched roofs line the main street, with a metal-roofed house visible to the right. Makala, June-July, 1990.
Rights:
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial
Publisher:
University of Victoria Libraries
Location(s) Facet:
Makala
Subjects:
Mango tree
Subjects Facet:
Thatched roofs; Metal roofing; Streets; Housing; Villages
Situated on the south side of Ahenkro against the backdrop of the Banda hills, one of the village's thatch-roofed primary schools (left) and the Junior Secondary School, still under construction but with one metal-roofed classroom in use. Ahenkro, July, 1986.
A view of Makala's wide main street, standing at the west edge of town, looking eastward. A mango tree grows in the street at the far end of the street. Atakpame (coursed earthen-walled) houses with thatched roofs line the street. The streets and areas around houses are kept clear of plants. Enoch Mensah (left) and Andy Black (right) stroll down the street after a day of work at Makala Kataa, the archaeological site located immediately west of Makala. Wide main streets like this one were was established in the 1920s when a British colonial District Officer implemented a "village planning" scheme. New villages were laid out next to existing settlements, and old villages abandoned as people relocated. The new villages were laid out on a grid pattern oriented by a wide main street. Archaeological excavations (1989, 1990 and 1994) at the old village site (Makala Kataa) have revealed much about daily life of Banda villagers in the late 18th and 19th centuries. See below for a link to a the 1902 Gold Coast Colony Ordinance that prompted these relocations: "Rules with Respect to Regulation of Towns and Villages." Makala, June-July, 1990. Makala, June-July, 1990.
Makala as viewed from the southwest edge of town, looking northwest. A metal-roofed atakpame (coursed earthen-walled) courtyard house is in the foreground, with thatched-roof buildings visible beyond. The Banda hills rise in the background. Paths cut through the plants that grow up to village's edge. Makala, June-July, 1990.