ADINKRA AS MULTIVALENT SEMANTIC FORMS


The reasons for the multivalent semantic potential of Adinkra symbolism, evoking the possibility of broad levels of signification in relation to the same design, emerges from a number of factors. One of this is the relationship between the distinctive character of the symbols and the psychology of perception. In reference to the psychology of perception I indicate the manner in which the mind processes information communicated through the eyes in relational to the semantic configuration of the mind. The significance of this for Adinkra symbolism consists in the manner in which Adinkra designs provoke particular patterns of eye movement as the viewer interacts with the design. These eye movements demonstrate an integral relationship with fundamental, universal human methods of generating/developing meaning.

The second reason consists in the visual relationship of the design configurations of many Adinkra symbols to similar symbols in other cultures, both African and non-African. These relationships suggest possibilities of convergent meaning meaning.

The third reason consists in the divergence between Adinkra symbolism and symbolic forms from other cultures as well as from patterns in nature. This group of non-correlative Adinkra symbols in particular evoke what Faux and Gates describe in these resonant terms:

The use of symbols to connote ideas which defy simple verbalization is perhaps one of the oldest of human traditions. The Asante people of West Africa have long been accustomed to using simple yet elegant motifs known as Adinkra symbols, to serve just this purpose. With a nod to this tradition, we christen our graphical symbols as “Adinkras.”

Who would not be fascinated by this? What could the imaginative creations of those illiterate people have to do with the very cutting edge of physics, the study that combines mathematics and the most challenging quest after the structure of the world? The study that enables Newton to create or perceive-I wont pretend to know the difference although it all amazes me-laws of nature that are seen to apply both on earth and in deep space and that are employed in the construction and propelling of spacecraft which were not even dreamt of when the man of Trinity College, Cambridge, that rendezvous of owers of mind,performed his lsolitary, universe spanning cogitations.

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