Written by: Sigrid Vadstein, Ole Christian Gjevik, Halidu B. Sule and Dorothy Agyapong
The Names of Commercial Ventures in Winneba – Ongoing Proof of Atlantic Heritage
Introduction
It is quite difficult not to notice the many shops and trading ventures with the countless names of religious character in the small town of Winneba along the coast of Ghana. We have a mixture of Ghanaian and Norwegian students in our group, and when the Norwegian students mentioned that they thought the naming practice was unusual, the Ghanaians were equally surprised to hear that Norwegian stores do not follow a similar practice. As a result, we have chosen this topic based on its link with Atlantic connections, and intercultural relations at play. It can be inferred from the findings that, the names are associated with Christian faith and it is of no doubt that Christianity is integrated into Ghanaian societies due to the Euro-African interaction that took place during the Atlantic Era. Hence, it is prudent to investigate how Christian beliefs have been imbibed into commerce in contemporary times within the Winneba township.
Historical Background / Trans-Atlantic Connections
The concept of Europeans partaking in petty trade has been ongoing since the building of the forts along the Gold Coast. Soldiers were receiving parts of their salaries as European goods that they needed to sell themselves, and thus they had incentives for engaging with the local commercial actors (Simensen: 42). However, we have found few descriptions of how this was taking place, and nothing about the naming of such ventures. Thus, drawing on soldiers as brokers for introducing religious elements into commerce seems speculative at best, given that after the Portuguese departed, attempts to introduce Christianity to the African communities were limited (Van Danzig 1999: 84), and Christianity as a whole is thought to have not taken root in Winneba until 1837 (Goldman 2016: ii).
It is possible to assume that the practice of naming shops with Christian motifs is a practice that originated at around the 1830s, though there might be the possibility that this was initially also done before Christianity asserted its dominance. As Winneba has been a busy seaport town for a long period of time – at the very least since the colonial times (Goldman 2016: 2), it is a possibility that the tradesmen have adopted names with Christian roots with the intent of drawing on European traders. However, given that Winneba has been noted as being notoriously difficult in its willingness to accept Christianity (Goldman 2016: 4), we consider it more likely on this basis that this particular naming practice would have started following the widespread acceptance of the religion.
Considering how multiple shop signs were using Akan language when including religious motifs, we consider it to be more likely that this practice was modified to include Christianity, rather than being a new phenomenon entirely. Putting an exact time to this practice, however, has proven rather difficult. We have tried to look through multiple history books covering the commerce of the Gold Coast region, but unfortunately the way that local trade was conducted is not described in great detail. Historians seem to mostly focus on what products could be made available through trade, which in the 1800s, translated into palm oil (Justesen 2003: 159). This again seems to mostly concern the bigger actors and not the local petty trade.
Process and challenges
We walked around Winneba observing shop names and talked to their owners. We decided to start our search in the market square, and worked our way to some of the outskirts of town, where the shops became less frequent. In general, we found that while shops with religious names were plentiful. However, when we started asking questions, the responses we got were not universally positive. Many wanted to be paid for giving information, or were distrustful of what we were going to do with the names of the shops. On the other hand, some shop-owners were very helpful, and one even started following us around to convince people to talk to us… but again hoped for some compensation for his services. We made sure to ask for permission to take pictures of their shops – not everyone agreed, but in general, this was the easier part of gathering of information.
Names and the Reasonings Given Behind them
We contacted a variety of different shops, and it turned out that the reasons given for why the shops had the names they did, were of a multitude of differing reasons. For instance, Lydia Ndum, owner of With Jesus, No Problem Services, said that she thinks that the name (and the blessings associated with it) is the reason why her shop has made enough profit to open three more stores within just ten years. As a result, she figured she should give the same name to her other stores too. Others simply said that they had chosen religiously based names either because they liked it, or because they figure it will provide some sort of protection. What was maybe the most extensive reason given when asked, was that one of the shop-owners wanted to give God all the glory, with the acknowledgement that nothing can be done without God’s help. As such, including God is viewed as completely natural, even in something as mundane as the shop name, and would explain such a name as Jesus Only Rentals.
Another explained that their shop has “always” had the name, because while the shopkeeper might change, the name doesn’t. The shop may be rented out to a different person, but in most cases the new owner does not change the name. In such a situation, a new occupant is only using the facility and do not own it, and hence cannot alter it. This is likely to be the case for the shops that have faded and generally unkempt signs. We also saw that in some cases, a religious connection is coincidental. For instance, Arkcity Link printing press ventures is named after the owner, Filicity Archurst. When we asked whether the Arkcity has any connection with the Ark in the biblical Noah’s story, the respondent only linked it to her personal name and nothing else, thus being some sort of a red herring in an ocean otherwise filled with religiously inspired signs.
A complete list of the shops we contacted or just observed includes:
God is my helper
Grace & Glory Chemicals
With Jesus, No Problem Services
Mawuli Krozz Trade
Arkcity-link
Nhyira Venture
Psalm 23
Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the Lord of host (Zechariah 4:6) (This shop sells soda)
Jesus is Lord Ent.
Jesus Only Rentals
My Redeemer Lives Curtains Shop
Archaic and Declining, or Alive and Spreading?
We have seen that some of these shop names are rather old and faded, to the point where parts are not legible, and in some cases, the shop seems to be newer than the signs themselves. In this sense, one could ask if this trend is still ongoing, or if it is a relic of a former era, especially given that some of the shopkeepers explained that they are unable to change the names of the shops if they wanted to. While we cannot give a definite answer to this, we do see an indication that this phenomenon is alive and still taking place. Not only have we talked to people that actively desired to name their shop with religious motifs, but also by comparing the pictures we took of stores with the street view taken by Google Maps in 2017, we can see that at least two more stores with religious names have taken the places of other shops during these last two years. Simultaneously, we could confirm from the pictures that two of the stores with religious names are still in business. Thus, regardless of what the actual root cause for this phenomenon of Atlantic cultural exchange is, it seems reasonable to conclude that this is likely still an ongoing practice, and is happening in Winneba to this day.
Sources:
Goldman, Edward Kojo. (2016). A History of Christianity in Winneba. WGCBC Publications Division: Winneba.
Justesen, Ole. (2003). ‘Henrich Richter 1785-1849: Trader and Politician in the Danish Settlements on the Gold Coast.’ Transactions of The Historical Society of Ghana , New Series, No. 7, 2003. The Historical Society of Ghana: Accra.
Simensen, Jarle, ‘Gold Coast Forts and Castles: Key Themes and Perspectives.’ In John K. Osei-Tutu (Ed.), Forts, Castles and Society in West Africa, Vol 7. Leiden: Brill, 2018. pp. 33-56.
van Dantzig, Albert. (1999). Forts and Castles of Ghana. Sedco Publishing: Accra.