Among the many Voltarians who are deeply engrossed in
this practice in everyday life are some of the youngest and
cool people I know. I think we all know the “last name first” principle. I understand the
principle; it is not what beats my mind. What keeps me wondering for so long is, why in Ghana, the Voltarians happen to be the one group who mostly go by it - almost as the default way of referring to oneself.
cool people I know. I think we all know the “last name first” principle. I understand the
principle; it is not what beats my mind. What keeps me wondering for so long is, why in Ghana, the Voltarians happen to be the one group who mostly go by it - almost as the default way of referring to oneself.
Without a doubt, primary and
secondary educational traditions have a lot to do with the practice, but then I
can argue that every Ghanaian school child has experienced this tradition. Yet
it turns out to be more identified with Voltarians through all stages of life. My
preparatory school headmaster, Michael Nkrumah, who by the way, hailed from the
Western Region of Ghana, never called me by my first name. He always called me
Condobrey. (And many of our school teachers called us pupils by our last names:
Anti, Nordor, Bakah, Tordimah, Ayiteyfio, Akofio-Sowa, Mensah, Ababio, Duodu, Asamoah,
Anyomi, Ohene-Djan, Atipo etc. But I didn't grow up calling myself
"Condobrey Antoinette" or write my names out that way everywhere I
go; neither does any of my siblings nor school mates.
Ironically, even
senior citizens who have never been to school in my Volta Regional hometown:
Hohoe, go by this “last name first” principle in their everyday life.
Lessons in anthropology: the Volta region's proximity to the Francophone Togo can't be overlooked, if one is seeking answers pertaining to the surname first culture. It is a culture that consolidates the use of the third person singular, which is applied to people outside the familiar circuit (these include friends of friends, professional acquaintances, school friends and teachers, older persons, or young persons one does not know or wish to be close to, in professional surroundings, at church... Etc) it can be both a sign of respect and disdain. In some aristocratic settings, however, spouses, siblings, close friends and family members may address each other using "vous". Another example is a friend of mine who uses "Vous" to address a colleague with whom he has shared the same office for over six years (7hours everyday). Here, the question is not about respect or disdain, but rather distance. He simply does not wish for their relationship to go beyond professional collaboration or the threshold of that office space after work. And for six years it has always been surname first, before first name, followed by "Vous". Use the first name first and it will be grammatically incorrect to use a "Vous". You can only use a "Vous" for a person if his/her last name or surname comes first.
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ReplyDeleteVery interesting one there, Prince. I did suspect the practice has a connection to colonialism, but I did not go beyond that thought to research. It is amazing the extent to which the people of Ghana's Volta Region still are committed to the practice. Just run through the Facebook friends list of an Ewe who was born in and has always lived in the Volta Region, and you are likely to see a chunk of the people on that list having their last names written first.
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