Edem Adotey

The study investigates Ewe conceptions of political space from the nineteenth century to the present. The study argues that there are many overlapping and/or conflicting mental maps that are invoked in a variety of political contexts even when the same people are involved.

Boundary studies show continuity in political, economic and social relations between partitioned communities in spite of the boundary. In Nyive and Edzi, two Ewe communities astride the Ghana-Togo boundary, the international boundary has not prevented chiefs from performing recognized chiefly functions across the boundary, thus describing themselves as ‘international chiefs.’ The study examines the centrality of chieftaincy rituals in the reproduction of trans-border ethnic communities. It argues that chieftaincy relationships have changed, specifically from political hegemony to largely ritual practices. Relations have been transformed and reinvigorated through cultural practices and rituals which have sustained a sense of belonging to an Ewe nation that straddles international boundaries.