Peoples & Societies
Asante
The south-central forest of Ghana is home to the Twi-speaking Asante peoples, who number about two million. Their expansive territory has three distinct regions, each organized into a kingdom. An agrarian peoples, the Asante make art that varies widely in both subject and form. Asante art—whether religious, political, or pertaining to daily life—is infused with symbolic meaning that derives from the human or natural world.
Excerpt from
Roslyn A. Walker, The Arts of Africa at the Dallas Museum of Art (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2009), 300.
Related Multimedia
Web Resources
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University of Iowa Museum of Art, Art & Life in Africa
Learn more about the Asante peoples. -
PBS
Learn more about the Asante kingdom and slave trade. -
Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History
Read an essay about art of the Asante Kingdom. -
Smart History
Read an overview of the peoples and cultures in Africa.