Aesthetical Discourse on ‘Unity Monument’ and its Role in Peace-Building in Simpa, Ghana

Theophilus Kwesi Mensah, Ebenezer Kow Abraham (2023)

This study was informed by the art-based approach to peacebuilding and unity to situate the Unity Monument as a didactic symbol of unity and peace in Simpa. The illustrative case study design was used in conjunction with semiotics to discuss the aesthetical connotations of the unity monument in relation to its nexus to unity and peace in Simpa. Simpa has experienced a protracted chieftaincy feud which resolution continue to hang around the neck of Kingmakers like an albatross. Many approaches have been explored to no avail. What is missing, is the use of art-based approaches to peace. Through literature review, interviews, and observations data was collected from a sample of nine (9) respondents chosen through purposive and convenience sampling techniques to advance an aesthetical discourse and solicit public opinions on the monument as a viable peacebuilding edifice. The findings revealed a threesome perspective from aesthetes who only consume the hedonistic nature of the monument; the optimists who relate to the unity and peace message in the monument and the skeptics who despite their inclination to the monument as a symbol of unity, doubted its potency in the unity and peace narrative of Simpa. We concluded that while art-based approaches could only do so much, this monument was nonetheless a valid ally (visual reminder) and a physical instantiation to the quest for unity and peace in Simpa.