Nzema
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The Nzema are an Akan people numbering about 328,700 people of whom 262,000 live in southwestern Ghana and 66,700 live in the southeast of Côte d'Ivoire. They speak a language called Nzema, also known as Nzima or Appolo. Linguistically this is classified as a Niger-Congo, Atlantic-Congo, Volta-Congo, Kwa, Nyo, Potou-Tano, Tano, Central, Bia language. It shares 60% intelligibility with Jwira-Pepesa and is close to Ahanta, Anyi and Baule.

The Nzema are mostly farmers. According to their traditional calendar days are orderered in cycles of seven, and these in turn follow each other in a three-week cycle. A religious kundum festival is held annually all over the Ahanta-Nzema area, starting in the easternmost part of Ahanta and advancing southwestward. Among other things, this festival is the main occasion on which the satirical avudewene songs are performed by young men. Lineage among the Nzema is matrilineal.

The European trained philosopher of the eighteenth century, Anton Wilhelm Amo, was of the Nzema people.

See also

• Aby lagoon
• Assongu, a powerful spirit force worshipped by the peoples of this area, represented in terracotta figurines to which offerings are presented.

References

• Burmeister, Jonathan L. 1976. "A comparison of variable nouns in Anyi-Sanvi and Nzema."
• Egya-Blay. 1987. "Changing patterns of authority over children among the Western Nzema."
• Grottanelli, Vinigi L. (1988) The python killer: stories of Nzema life. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
• Rowson, Hilary M. 1987. "Health and the gods in contemporary Nzema thought."
• Valsecchi, Pierluigi (1999) "Calendar and the annual festival in Nzema: notes on time and history", Africa (Instituto Italiano per l'Africa e l'Oriente), 54, 4, 489-513.
• Valsecchi, Pierluigi (2001) "The 'true Nzema': a layered identity", Africa (International Africa Institute), 71, 3, 391-425.