Ewe Aklama Dolls: Objects Made More Powerful by Damage
New: the 2nd edition of Within Carved Lines: The Secret Meanings of African Masks is out now. Get the book →
Several protective-object traditions documented in this book treat damage as a flaw to be avoided, a sign that an object has failed at its job. The Ewe, who live in southern Togo and Ghana as the eastern neighbors of the Asante, inverted that logic entirely with their fertility dolls: a doll with a broken arm or leg was considered more powerful, not less, believed to guarantee that a woman’s real children would be born whole and healthy, limbs intact. That inversion, damage read as a promise of wholeness rather than a warning against it, is the throughline worth carrying through this piece. It runs through the wider Ewe practice of carving small protective figures, from Aklama statues kept in local shrines to legba fetishes and ibeji twin figurines, each one asking a carved object to absorb some risk so a living person does not have to.
Who Are the Ewe?
The Ewe people live in southern Togo and Ghana, the eastern neighbors of the Asante, and make small wooden statues and textiles decorated with figurative motifs and symbols. Roughly carved Aklama statues represent protective spirits and are kept by the Ewe in their local shrines, forming the backbone of household-level protective practice.
Aklama Statues and the Protective Power of Damage
The Ewe are mainly known for their dolls. Some scholars believe these were used only as fertility dolls, while others consider them toys, but women kept the dolls under their mattresses specifically to ensure fertility. Dolls with broken arms or legs were considered by the Ewe to be more powerful than intact ones, since they were thought to guarantee that children would be born healthy, with their arms and legs whole, a direct inversion in which the doll’s damage functioned as insurance against damage to the child.
Beyond Dolls: Legba Figures and Ibeji Twins
The Ewe also produce clay figures of phallic form, called legba, used as a tribal or family fetish representing the spirit of fecundity and generative power. Like the Yoruba people in Nigeria, the Ewe carve ibeji twin figurines for the protection of a surviving twin after the death of the other. They additionally produce animal figures in black clay, copper figures made using the lost-wax technique representing animals, and small masks, rounding out a craft tradition built almost entirely around protection and fertility rather than display.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why were broken Ewe dolls considered more powerful?
A doll with a broken arm or leg was believed to guarantee that a woman’s real children would be born healthy with intact limbs, an inversion in which the doll’s damage protected against damage to the child.
What are Aklama statues?
Aklama are roughly carved wooden statues representing protective spirits, kept by the Ewe in local shrines.
What is a legba figure?
A legba is a phallic clay figure used as a tribal or family fetish representing the spirit of fecundity and generative power.
Do the Ewe carve twin figurines?
Yes. Like the Yoruba, the Ewe carve ibeji twin figurines to protect a surviving twin after the death of the other.
See also: African Masks by Region and Tribe · Ashanti Gold Mask: History, Symbolism, and Royal Significance in Ghana · Every Traditional African Mask You Should Know
