Black Stool Movement Analysis

To have authority is to have a sense of power or control over others. However, where does such power and respect of the individual come from, and how? In many cases throughout history, authority and leadership is established through events such as coronations, elections, or rituals. In terms of the African community, the stool acts as a vital object in firmly establishing one 's authority. In modern day setting, one would view the object as simply furniture, an object to which serves the purpose of being sat upon. While Africans did too use the stool for everyday use, the stool was also regarded as an immensely sacred object. The usage and worshipping treatment of the stool along with its iconography acted as a political emblem, reflecting

Rather, the creators and chiefs of the 19th and 20th century paid much more attention to the visual images and symbols used to reinforce their power. For the Asante people, black stools were considered the most powerful symbol of the ancestors and symbolized the physical body and spirit of the king 's mother and father. For the Dangme people of Ghana, they too also believed that the stools did not need to be elaborate in form, as its symbol of power and authority was established through the stool 's concealment of communal and ancestral secrets. Commonly used in the Grassfield regions, the triangular pattern was understood to be representative of leopard spots and was a symbol of royal authority and ancestorhood. . Moreso, spiders were often depicted on such objects as it was symbolic of wisdom and was associated with the earth in which the dead emerged as ancestors. Interestingly, the chosen stool consists of a backing with a triangular pattern. Additionally, the supports of the stool could be carvings of leopards, indicated by the patterned spots indented into figure. It is possible that such a stool could have been reserved for royalty. Besides visual tropes, Chiefs often also named and styled their stools to reinforce their power and authority. According to Sharon Patton, who did a study on stools and Asante Chieftaincy, many Asante chiefs picked traditional names and styles rather

In the process of creating the stool itself, the type of wood chosen would come from a tree that was believed to have inhabited a powerful spirit who would then inhabit the stool. In particular, blackened stools were ceremonially coloured with a mixture of soot, spider webs and eggs. The ingredients themselves are significant. The spider webs signify wisdom of the ancestor 's and the chief 's ability to subjugate trouble, similar to how a spider could ensnare prey, whereas the egg was a symbol of peace. The stool was actually concealed in darkness and was bathed once a year. The room it was stored in was symbolically located in the center of the palace and was out of bounds to people who entered without ritual preparation. The location and treatment of such stools displays the power the stool itself carried and symbolized. It is interesting to note that the location of the stool in the museum was also in a particularly dimly lit place. The condition of the stools surrounding the main object were also in rather good condition, possibly due to the vigorous treatment it received from the people and its owner. The location itself was where the elected chief would be taken, and it is where the stools would be soaked in blood, soot and oil from the sacrifices made. Chiefs would be lowered and raised three times on the stool, thus forming