Dwa (stool)

A dwa or asesedwa or sometimes gwa is a stool of the Ashantis of Ghana.

A dwa stool

Uses

Often made of wood, the dwa is more or less decorated according to the status of its possessor,^[1] it has great institutional and symbolic importance among the Akan.^[2] These stools are rectangular in shape and have five supporting pillars (annan).^[3] The royal seat or ahennwa is considered the "soul of the nation", once enthroned the king (ahene) becomes as sacred as the seat.^[4][5]

The mmarima dwa are the stools of the men, while the mmaa dwa are for women. The adammadwa (literally "two pennies stool") are for poor people.^[6]

Gallery

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  Small ashanti stool, copper on wooden frame
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  The Golden stool 1935

Bibliography

• Christiane Falgayrettes-Leveau, Christiane Owusu-Sarpong, Ghana hier et aujourd'hui, éditions Dapper, 2003.
• Sandro Bocola, Ezio Bassani, African Seats, Vitra Design Museum, 1995.
• Mougo Boniface, Azariah Nyaggah, Social Origins of the Asante Traditional Administrators, 1974.

References

1. Christiane Falgayrettes-Leveau, Christiane Owusu-Sarpong, Ghana hier et aujourd'hui, éditions Dapper, 2003
2. Peter Sarpong, The Sacred Stools of the Akan, 1971, p.26
3. Purissima Benitez-Johannot, Jean Paul Barbier-Mueller, Sièges d'Afrique noire du musée Barbier-Mueller, Musée Barbier-Mueller, 2003, p.128
4. Peter Sarpong, The Sacred Stools of the Akan, 1971, p.26
5. Walter C. Rucker, Gold Coast Diasporas : Identity, Culture, and Power, 2015, p.39
6. Anthropos, Volume 62, 1903, p.27