Leadership and Art. Those things can mix?

Well, If I wanted to start my blog out like most other people in the class I'd say something like, "I didn't know what I was getting myself into when joining this class" or "I'm really interested now that I'm taking the class".  Honestly, I can't blame you guys though! I'm in the same boat.  I DIDN'T know what I was getting myself into and now that we've had two weeks of class, I AM glad that I'm taking it.  To give us all a little break from that though, I thought I'd take a different route than most other people and talk about how leadership and art often walk hand-in-hand in African cultures.

Leadership is something that is all over the world, obviously.  We have presidents, parents, bosses, teachers and heck, even kids have different leadership opportunities (boy scouts, 4H, etc.).  Classes, clubs, internships and jobs all plague our society.  I'm not saying it's a bad thing.  I mean, who doesn't want that extra thing that will boost their resume?  After two weeks in this class I can already tell that's it's, not surprisingly, a big deal in African culture as well.  I think the idea that got my juices flowing was that leadership is so intertwined within art in Africa.  The Asantehene and the Omanhene are all adorned with sandals, footrests, finials, stools and lots of gold.  Their symbols of leadership are all more elaborate and beautiful than ours.  Often times all we get is a piece of paper or a name tag.  Unless you're the president or in boy scouts.  Those are two different stories...

Once again the cultural barrier has surprised me.  A stool, something so common and mundane for us, is considered a big symbol of leadership in the Akan people.  Everyone in the Akan culture has their own stool.  The stools for leaders in the culture are are carved elaborately and covered in gold.  This idea is a deep-routed tradition in their culture and it holds so much power for an individual person.  When these leaders died it is said that their souls are transferred to their stools.  The stools are then blackened and stored in a stool room.  Here it is said that all of the stools together represent the state's historical power.

I think the story of the golden stool is interesting, also.  The stool from this story symbolizes the unification of many of the Akan peoples under the Asante.  The stool is also said to be alive.  It's been passed down through the generations and has never been sat on or blackened.  The golden stool actually has a throne of it's own where it sits next to the Asantehene.

It's so interesting to me how leadership is so different among our culture and the African cultures.  What would our society be like if we all had a stool that symbolized our existence?  Do we have things now that even come close to this idea?  Are we that attached to a name tag or are we, in our culture, attached to the idea?  These are all questions that I've actually found myself thinking about after our first two weeks of classes and something that I look forward to learning more about in class.

Have a great weekend everyone!  See you on Tuesday, people.