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The Healers by Ayi Kwei Armah
Ayi Kwei Armah published the book “The Healers” in 1978. The setting of the story is
taken place in Africa. During this time, the British took over different kingdoms. The British
took over the “kingdom of Ashanti” in the nineteenth century, in Astana country. Astana country
is now known as Ghana (Armah 12). The main character of this story is Densu. Densu is twenty
years old and growing into a young mature adult of his community. He is unsure about what he
wants to do with his life. Densu is a powerful young man, but he does not want to fight back the
disadvantages he faces. The author Ayi Kwei Armah’s primary purpose in writing “The Healers,”
is to grab the reader’s attention by illustrating that Africans should unite. There are two elements
of the story that could have welded to the destruction or survival of Africa, which are disunity
and greed. However, conflict was occurring between Africans or in the kingdom of Ashanti. For
example, the King and chiefs of the kingdom oversee orchestrating this vice (Mtshali 25). In
addition, to their lust, for food to fill their stomachs, a thirst for a drink to quench their thirst, and
a desire for clothes made of silk to sit on. The chiefs and kings plotted the disunity of the African
continent. The tides changed when those who had taken the oath by God’s sword, sworn to serve,
and protect became the oppressed and the subject of their dominance. Greed was another element
in this story between the leaders. According to the author, Africa’s failure and destruction were
due to the desire for power and the leaders’ lack of knowledge. As portrayed in the book “The
Healers,” contemporary African society suffers from a lack of unity due to poor leadership. More
than that, the desire for power and a better life by supporting the British colonial rulers played a
decisive role in the destruction of the African community and continent. Some of the leaders on
the African continent saw as the primary reason the continent came to its knees to the colonialists
(Correa 145). Some Africans tempted to fight fellow African members to get food, drinks, and
clothes by the leaders due to internal conflict among Africans. However, like plots to overthrow
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the throne or to undermine the war strategy, as by the queen mother, the famous quote of divide
and rule became helpful in colonizers. Africans chose to destroy themselves due to their disunity.
Ababio’s greed for power led him to frame his godson, Densu, the orphan. Densu was framed for
murder by Ababio so that he, Ababio, could ascend with ease to the throne at Esuano.
Correspondingly, the queen mother undermined the war strategies of Asamoa Nkwanta when she
fought against the colonists in Kumase. According to the author, the queen mother fears that
should the mighty warrior Asamoa Nkwanta win the war, he will return and contest for the
throne at Kumase. Queen mother cited that a king’s wisdom lies in his knowledge of how to
remain King (Armah 33). Then, she thinks it would be better to yield a little to the whites than to
lose all power to the whites general. In this statement, the representation of the African leaders is
naive and unknowledgeable. Instead of abandoning their people and bending to the colonial’s
promises for a better life, they should have unified their subjects and fought off the white man
from their continent. Africans tend to be naive and poorly informed about their origins as well.
As the author explains, the Africans did not understand their roots, which blinded them from the
fact that they were all Africans and should be fighting for a common goal instead of fighting
amongst themselves. This vice resulted in the Asantes seeing themselves as distinct and different
from the Akims, Fantes, Ekuapems, Dahomey, Hausas, Ada, Ga, Aneho, Kru, Temne, Mande,
Sussu, and many other communities (Mtshali 28). Due to their confusion about their origins,
incompetence to reason and comprehend, and inability to identify their common enemy, the
Africans fought against one another. They drifted apart, allowing the white man to conquer them
easily. Despite the lack of unity, a group of people called the healers whose primary mission was
to unify the African continent. Even though African kings, queens, and chiefs oppressed the
Africans, the healers never lost hope to unite the people. The more challenging things got, the
more resolute they became (Correa 147). In the healers’ view, the individuality and scattering of
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the Africans were only a temporary phase in the indigenous affairs of men, and it would soon
pass, thus achieving their long-term objective and goal. The path towards achieving this
objective was perilous and engulfed in thickets and thorns. Consequently, the Asante kings sent
soldiers to hunt down and kill the healers, and then, soldiers blamed them. Though Armah wrote
the book to strive for the unification of Africa, he is not blind to criticize, understand and despise
some of the traditions accepted in Africa and despise his own culture. He ascribes these practices
and acts to selfishness, ignorance, and a lack of power (Lindfors 39). When we look at the
author’s presentations and ideologies, we see a lot of parallels between present-day Africa and
the past. For example, people can think about how Africans worked to unite and see how many
people were spiritually or physically killed due to separation. In that regard, Kwame
Nkrumah and Patrice Lumumba come to mind. After publishing ‘Two Thousand Seasons’ and
‘The Healers, he fell from grace. These people fought for the unification of the African continent,
but they have quickly gone down the drain for some reason or another. However, the struggle for
unity in Africa is far from over. Suppose the results are not realized now, just like the healers.
For example, Damfo knew at some point the fruits of their work would be discovered, even if it
was centuries later. According to the author, all man matters are about self-interest and
competition. Rather than helping dying people or children, a television crew prefers to fight and
struggle to tell their story (Horne 65). According to Armah, one day, Africans will wake up and
discover their origin, hold hands together, and spirits of dead souls will awaken and heal Africa’s
wound together.
Overall, “Healers” is an excellent book for the readers to learn more about their African
ancestors. I suggest, for the readers that wants to know more about African American history,
they should read the “Healers.” It shows a great example of how Africans are trying to promote
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unity. Another example, from today young black men are killing each other during the 21st
century. This a great book to read to get the understanding about our history!
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Reference
Armah, Ayi K. The Healers: A Novel. Popenguine, Senegal: Per Ankh, 2012. Print.
