Kassena
| Total population | |
|---|---|
| (161,000) | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
| Kingdom of Dagbon, Ghana and Burkina Faso | |
| Languages | |
| Kasem | |
| Religion | |
| Islam and Christianity |
The Kassena people are an ethnic group located along the northern Ghana and Burkina Faso border. They speak the Kasem language. Their number is estimated to be about 161,000 as of 2013. Their chief lives in the town of Tiébélé. The kasenna are closely related to the people of Nankanni and were brought together to form the Kassena-Nankana administrative district in 1936. As of 2008 the (Kassena-Nankana) area comprises two districts: Kassena Nankana West and Kassena Nankana East.
The Kassena people are part of the greater Gurunsi group and were separated from the Gurunsi ethnic group at the beginning of the 20th century, as a consequence of colonialism and more specifically of the partitioning of the Burkina Faso-Ghana area between France and United Kingdom. As most of the Gurunsi people live in Burkina, the Kassena were isolated and gradually developed an independent cultural identity. Kassena mostly live on agriculture, growing millet, sorghum, yam and, to a lesser extent, maize, rice, groundnuts, beans. During the dry season they also hunt and fish.
Traditional Kassena society is grouped into chiefdoms, five of whom are predominant: Paga, Chiana, Kayoro, Katiu and Nakon.
The Belgian anthropologist, Ann Cassiman, conducted detailed ethnographic accounts of the Kassena. In her book “Stirring Life: Women's Paths and Places Among the Kasena of Northern Ghana”, she elaborates on the material culture, rituals and social practices as experienced in a rural Kassena village. This research also led to a museum exhibition entitled 'Home Call', housed by the Museum Aan de Stroom (MAS) in Antwerp, Belgium.
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Wikipedia