Representations of Clothing in Selected Ghanaian Literature

Abstract

In this paper, I explore the choices of clothing made by characters in select Ghanaian literature from the realms of fiction, short-fiction and drama: The Blinkards by Kobina Sekyi (1997 [1918]), The Marriage of Anansewa by Efua Sutherland (1987),  Changes: A Love Story by Ama Ata Aidoo (1991), “The Prophet of Zongo Street” by Mohammed Naseehu Ali (2005), Fragments (2006) and Two Thousand Seasons ([1973] 2000 ) by Ayi Kwei Armah, A Woman in Her Prime (1967) by Asare Konadu and The Clothes of Nakedness (1998) by Benjamin Kwakye. The discussion builds on the assumption that the trope of clothing in the texts communicates more than is thought by their wearers and beholders. How this is represented in the selected Ghanaian texts is what this article seeks to investigate. The discussion observes that the majority of the characters are usually more influenced by external social factors in their choice of clothing than by just covering themselves. I argue that Ghanaian characters are more inclined to making a choice for foreign clothing than their own indigenous clothing. This tendency causes them to rather take up foreign identities other than their Ghanaian identity.