Introduction
The modern African Diaspora as it is known in the Americas was primarily brought about by a tumultuous period in the world history characterized by the slavery and slave trade. The topic of colonial trade and slave entrepreneurship focuses on how the Africans were traded across the Atlantic Ocean to serve as labourers in the American plantations and mines among other occupations. The Africans did carry with them some of their traditional cultural artefacts and objects that can serve as a reminder of that period. The object under consideration here is the Akan Drum (1680-1820). This essay will describe the Akan Drum, its significance, the enterprise it was involved in, a historical, cultural and religious background, and modern significance.
The Akan Drum
The Akan Drum originated from West Africa and can be traced to the Akan region of Ghana. During the Atlantic slave trade, the drum was brought to the United States on a slave ship to the colony of Virginia in the year 1753. The drum is considered to be the oldest surviving African-American objects. Its legacy in the American plantations was facilitated by the fact that the Africans continued with their musical traditions of dancing and drumming. More so, it is a relic and a reminder of the slave trade that saw over 12 million Africans shipped to the Americas between 1501 and 1800s when the slave trade was finally abolished. The Akan Drum is, therefore, an important historical object due to the historical and cultural significance attached to it.
By description, the Akan Drum is a wooden drum with a height of about 16 inches. Deer skin was another material used on the drum and the drum stick. The primary function of the drum was the African dances practised in Africa and on the American plantations during slavery. The tribal dance practices persisted on the plantations where they were shared, reinvented, and blended into their new world and environment. The African Diaspora narrative depicts the drum as a symbol of both survival and resistance.
Significance of Akan Drum
The significance of the Akan Drum can be examined in the political and economic context of the colonisation, slave trade and slavery in the Americas. The transatlantic slave trade involved extraction of people from vast areas of Atlantic Africa and spreading them across the Americas where they had to labour and build new social lives for themselves. The economic context was the commodification of Africans and their subsequent deployment into the plantations and mines. The slaves were exploited and brutalized in lands they considered alien for the commercial interests of the white slave masters.
The political context was not different from the economic one as the colonization of the Americas meant forcing captured people into involuntary labour both as a means of economic exploitation and political oppression. The brutal treatment of the slaves was intended to prevent any resistance or revolts. The black people were placed under the political rule of the whites who made the oppressive laws to keep the blacks in line. The significance of the Akan Drum, however, is seen as an attempt by the Africans to retain their culture and perhaps to resist the attempts to kill and replace their culture. The concept of cultural nativism has been used to describe the retention and existence of the African cultures despite repressive political, social, and economic policies that threatened to kill off their culture. Politically, however, the use of the drums in African dances was a symbol of their resistance.
One of the key points to note is that the Akan people were instrumental in many slave rebellions in the British Caribbean and this is why the Akan Drum is considered by scholars as a symbol of resistance. The militant responses to slavery was ignited by the daily hostilities imposed to the Africans. Back in Africa, the drums were used during wars either for celebrating a victory or for communication. In colonial America, the slave rebellion saw a similar use of the drum where the rebels used it to signal each other. The drum was used to communicate and t unify people both in Africa and during slavery in the Americas.
Enterprise
A discussion of the enterprise that produced the Akan Drum is hard to describe considering that the object was not a commercial product but rather a cultural item among the Akan people of the Gold Coast. As described earlier on, the drum was carried to the Americas on a slave ship not as a commercial item but as a cultural artefact intended to help the slaves carry on with their music and dances. The cultural events in Ghana were characterized by music and dance where skilled drummers used the Akan drum both as a musical instrument and as a form of communication. The drummers were known to replicate the punctuation, tones, and accents of the Akan language to send messages across the villages. Events such as wars and celebrations were always marked by drumming among other cultural events. The slaves were not allowed to carry any possessions with them and it is speculated that the drum may have been given to the ship’s captain as a gift. The point is that the drum was an item produced in a cultural enterprise for cultural purposes.
Historical, Cultural and Religious Background
The historical, cultural and religious background of the Akan Drum can also be traced back to the Akan people of the Gold Coast. The Akan Drum is a traditional cultural item that had been used for several centuries prior to the transatlantic slave trade. Used both as a musical and communication instrument, the Akan Drum one of the key symbols of the history of the Akan people. The history of the drum extends into the colonial era of the Americas. Previously misidentified as an Indian drum and later (1906) re-identified as the Akan Drum, the item was also used in the African danced both in the slave ships and the plantations. The slave masters forced the labourers to exercise and the dances accompanied by drumming were seen as the perfect exercises for the slaves. The usage in the Americas was, therefore, not only an extension of its historical uses but also a new usage in a new context.
Culturally and religiously, the Akan Drum was part of the Akan culture, specifically communication, music and dances. An examination of the religious and cultural practices of the Akan people reveals that all the Akan societies shared similar beliefs, practices and values. This explains why the drum could be used as a communication tool across the societies where inter-community communication was made possible. Among the traditional practices included religious beliefs where they believed in a supreme being. Religious events included sacrifices to confess sins and plead for forgiveness. Activities like prayers and child naming were all communal and the drum was always present in these events. Such cultural and religious uses of the Akan Drum are not as apparent in the Americas as they are in Africa. However, the fact that the slaves retained their cultures as manifested in the music and dances implies a continuity of the cultural and religious functions of the drum.
Significance in Enterprise and Entrepreneurship
The Akan Drum, as described earlier on, was more of a cultural item as opposed to a commercial one. During the colonial era in the Americas, the drum was used as a workplace tool to keep the slaves fit for work and this is perhaps the only entrepreneurial application of the object. There are no records of commercial production of the Akan Drum despite the fact that it is a major slavery symbol. Today, however, the item is often displayed in museums across the world where commercial value may be realized. However, the item is of greater historical value than monetary value. Collectors are potential entrepreneurial activities that could see the item generate revenues for the collectors and other parties involves.
Conclusion
The Akan Drum (1680-1820) is one of the most significant artefacts of the slavery era and that can be used to trace the African Diaspora back to their roots. The colonial trade and slave entrepreneurship involved capturing Africans and transporting them to the Americas where they were deployed as labourers in the plantations and mines among other occupations. The drum accompanied the trade but not as a commercial commodity. The drum has been described here as more of a cultural item than a monetary one majorly because there are no records of commercial or industrial production. The significance of the Akan drum has also been highlighted, including its use in music and dances by the Africans both in Africa and colonial America. The entrepreneurial significance, however, could not be determined for the reasons given earlier on. The historical, cultural and religious background of the Akan Drum has been traced back to the Akan societies in the Gold Coast.
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