Contents and contexts the rhetoric of oral traditions in the Oman of SefwiWiawso, Ghana

This article examines political oral traditions in the Sefwi (Akan) area of Ghana. Two types of narrative are studied: negotiations over the political status of stools within the kingdom and the claims to succession of matril ineal branches within stools. Narratives are analysed in relation to their claims to historicity, to the political conflicts in which they are generat ed and to their correspondence to legal criteria of attribution of 'traditi onal' political offices. It shows that pre-colonial dynamic norms concernin g stool status and succession turned into a fixed legal corpus in the twent ieth century. Contenders' histories have been used as evidence to judge 'tr aditional' stool disputes. Narrators have thus constructed narratives prese nting ideal pasts considered worthy of legal attribution of 'traditional' p olitical office. Narratives have consequently legalised narrators' claims w ith reference to ancient history. The study of the context of the emergence of oral traditions-hostility between particular stool holders, national po litics' influence or conflicts over the sharing of stool revenue-shows that narratives and political conflicts have a history of their own which is ca refully omitted from the narration.