Efo Sela Kojo Adjei writing in Accra dot Alt:
This article is a response to the abysmal manner in which the burial ceremony of the late Nana AFIA KOBI SERWAA AMPEM II ASANTEHEMAA (Asante Queen mother) was reported by the Ghanaian media. News channels in Ghana are making more money running commercials than producing news. Influential news outlets like CITI FM, JOY FM and PEACE FM, among others, are particularly guilty of manufacturing consent through massive misinformation packaged as news. These are the same agencies with wide listenership within Accra and syndicated shows across the country. So when their reporters put out biased and inaccurate information, it’s an even bigger deal in this case as it’s about the cultural representation of a very large group of people. The Queen mother’s funeral was quite a spectacle and for a lot of people it was the first time seeing Asante funeral rituals and ceremony for high ranking royals like their queen. Two Ghanaian photographers’ gave the world a front row seat to Ghana’s biggest social event for 2017 through social media. Emmanuel Bobbie and Yaw Pare’s photos captured riveting images of the burial ceremony and generated a lot of fashion commentary from social media users as well as prejudiced debate on “Ghanaianess” and ethnic profiling...[more]
Young performance artists at Mama Vena Shrine. Kli-Adzima festival (Klikor, 2016) Photo Credit: Sela Kodjo Adjei.
