Adinkra Symbols

Adinkra are Ghanaian symbols that express ideas or aphorisms. Adinkra is widely used in textiles, logos, and pottery. They’re built into walls and other architectural elements.

Some traditional Akan goldweights have Adinkra emblems. The symbols are also carved into stools for use in the home and in rituals. T-shirts and jewellery with the insignia have taken on new meanings as a result of tourism.

The symbols serve as aesthetic elements, but they also represent objects that hold emotive ideas about ancient wisdom, life, and the environment.

Many symbols have diverse meanings and are frequently associated with proverbs. They were one of the instruments for “sustaining the transmission of a sophisticated and nuanced corpus of practise and belief,” as Kwame Anthony Appiah put it.