Anufo people
| Total population | |
|---|---|
| c. 100,000[1] | |
| Languages | |
| Anufo, French, Hausa[2] | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Other Akans, especially Anyi, Baoulé, Sefwi and Aowin[3] |
The Anufo, Anufɔ, or Chokossi are an Akan people who live in the Dapaong and Mango areas of northern Togo, as well as in northeastern Ghana and northern Benin. There are approximately 100,000 Anufo people across these countries, as of 2010. They mostly speak the Anufo language, one of the Akan languages.[1][2]
Name
The Anufo trace their origin to a place called Anou or Ano on the Komoé River in the Ivory Coast, and they migrated east during the 18th century. Thus, they refer to themselves Anoufou "people of Anu", after their ancestral homeland. They are also referred to by the exonym Chokossi, which has many alternate spellings, including Chakasi, Chakossi, Kyokosi, Kyokoshi, Tschokossi, and Tyokossi.[3]: 130 [4]
History
The oral history of the Anufo begins in the early 18th century, in the present-day Ivory Coast. Over the course of the reign of the Ashanti king Opoku Ware I, people of various cultures and languages merged together in the region around Anou. Around 1751, a subset of these people formed a mercenary army and headed east, likely invited to fight on behalf of the king of Gonja.[5]: 56–58
Anufo oral traditions insist that the mercenary band was supposed to return to Anou, but conflicting reasons are given for why they instead chose to stay in the area around Gambaga, in present-day northeastern Ghana. One story says that they had been hired as mercenaries by the Mamprusi and stayed there while waiting to get paid for their work. Another story says that they started to return to Anou but stopped when their leader died in Gambaga. Regardless of the reason, the Anufo settled down with their main city in the Mango region of Togo, which became a trade hub.[5]: 58–62
Social structures within the Anufo still reflect aspects of this mercenary history. The group of soldiers consisted of Mande horsemen, Akan musket-toting foot soldiers, and some Muslim scholar amulet-makers.[6]: 34 Although they now have a shared history and tradition, some distinctions remain between the three original classes. The noble and (Muslim) clerical classes traditionally shared a social system that is distinct from the "commoners".[7]: 326 Anufo society retains a clan structure based on different roles in battles.[5]: 62
Culture
Property
Traditionally, the Anufo people considered most of a village's property communally-owned rather than individually-held, with notions of "ownership" depending more on who was using it or needed it than any other factor. Although animals were raised by and owned by specific people, in cases of need, they were shared by the community. Village land was owned jointly by all members of a kin-group, even if some members lived elsewhere. By the 1980s, shifting social patterns led to increased privatization of these communal resources.[8]: 63–65
Naming conventions
Like other Akan peoples, Anufo children are given first names based on the day of the week that they are born. However, in the Anufo language, the names of the days of the week are ordered differently from the standard Akan day names.[5]: 56
References
- ^ a b Gates, Jr., Henry Louis; Appiah, Kwame Anthony (2010). "Chokossi". Encyclopedia of Africa. New York, NY: Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780199733903. Retrieved 26 February 2026.
- ^ a b Grimes, B. (2003). "Kwa languages". In Frawley, William J. (ed.). International encyclopedia of linguistics (2nd ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780195307450. Retrieved 26 February 2026.
- ^ a b Olson, James Stuart (1996). The peoples of Africa: an ethnohistorical dictionary. Santa Barbara, CA: Greenwood Press. p. 18. ISBN 978-0-313-27918-8. Retrieved 18 April 2010.
- ^ Massing, Andreas Walter (15 March 2012). "Imams of Gonja". Cahiers d’études africaines. pp. 57–101. doi:10.4000/etudesafricaines.16965.
- ^ a b c d Abokyi, Samuel Nana (2025). "The Anufor (Chokosi): History of origins and settlement patterns". Journal of Contemporary African Studies. 43 (1). Routledge: 52–68. doi:10.1080/02589001.2024.2414013.
- ^ Kirby, Jon P. (1986). God, Shrines and Problem-Solving among the Anufo of Northern Ghana. Collectanea Instituti Anthropos. Vol. 34. Berlin: Dietrich Reimer Verlag, for Anthropos Institute, St. Augustin.
- ^ Kirby, Jon P. (July 1992). "Anthropology of Knowledge and the Christian Dialogue with African Traditional Religions: Lessons from Anufo Divination". Missiology: An International Review. 20 (3): 323–341. doi:10.1177/009182969202000301. Retrieved 26 February 2026.
- ^ Kirby, Jon P. (1987). "Why the Anufo Do Not Eat Frogmeat: The Importance of Taboo-Making for Development Work". African Affairs. 86 (342): 59–72. ISSN 0001-9909. Retrieved 25 February 2026.