The Posuban Is Our Pride: Maintaining and Modernizing a Tradition and Its Visual Language

This work explores the factors that motivate an asafo (a sociopolitical organization whose previous military roles have been put in abeyance) to reconstruct or renovate their posuban (shrines/monuments); what forms of art are used to decorate the posuban to visually and symbolically reflect current asafo views; and what a rival might choose to depict on their own posuban in response. The article also investigates whether the art and symbols are associated with proverbs, are isolated works, or form part of the wider inter-asafo communication. This essay builds on my previous work concerning the visual communicative aspects of Fante asafo flags by hypothesizing that if the flags contain themes targeted at neighboring rivals, then it is possible that similar themes exist on the posuban.