Aɖaʋatram (Madness Has Led Me Astray): Ritual Archives and Ewe Identities on the Ghana–Togo Borderlands

The Ghana–Togo border separates the Ewe people from their ritual spaces and objects. In Nyive, a border town divided into Ghana Nyive and Togo Nyive, these ritual spaces and objects are in Togo Nyive. The liminal space of the border complicates ritual practice by preventing community members from moving the ritual drum Aɖaʋatram (madness has led me astray) across the river and the international border. Nonetheless, communities in Nyive use ritual archives to maintain their identities in the context of colonial separation. They remake their identities through the symbolism, origin narrative, handling, and use of the drum Aɖaʋatram.