The Hybridity in the Rites of Passage among the Ewe Ethnic Society in the Kumasi Metropolis

Abstract

This study investigated the rites of passage of the Ewe ethnic society in the Kumasi Metropolis. It discusses the influence of the Asante host culture’s rites of passage on the Ewe ethnic society’s culture resulting in the hybridity of culture as a result of migration. The study was driven in a purely qualitative study with descriptive study as the study design. Thirty (30) study participants consisting of chiefs, elders in the traditional court and the elderly in the study area. Personal interviews and focus group discussions were the data collection tools used for collecting the data for the study. The findings of the study revealed that the Ewe cultural practices exhibited in the Kumasi metropolis is as a result of hybridity. The study contends that as the Ewes play their culture alongside the host culture-Asante culture, they consciously and unconsciously fuse and or substitute their indigenous culture which has virtually merged or replace their culture.

Keywords: Value, Rites of Passage, Acculturation, Enculturation, Ethnicity, Cultural Hybridity

DOI: 10.7176/JCSD/62-01

Publication date:October 31^st 2020