JADECS (Journal of Art, Design, Art Education & Culture Studies) Volume 7 No. 1 April 2022 e-ISSN : 2548- 6543 18 GHANAIAN CLAY PRACTICES: A RETHINKING Samuel Nortey 1 , Edwin K. Bodjawah 2 1,2 Department of Industrial Art, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, GHANA. e-mail : sammynort@gmail.com 1 , edwiono4u@gmail.com 2 Paper received: 02-12-2021 revised: 18-03-2022 accepted: 19-04-2022 Abstract: This paper discusses Ghanaian clay practices and how their histories and some practices limit their clay discourse, creating a disconnect from ecologies of practice. Western contemporary and academic ceramics communities acknowledge the present and historic lack of diversity and inclusion of Global south indigenous practice, a condition that has been constant since there has been a conception of “contemporary ceramics”. Documentation of art has been largely the exclusive province of art historians, yet, Ghana never had art history has a major in any Ghanaian university including Achimota School that was set up by the colonial government. There are several ceramic material sites but no processing industries for creating products. This paper signals a rethinking of forms, economic exchange, materiality and recommends that it is expedient to expand Ghanaian clay practice discourse in all forms to connect to the ecologies of practice by forward-thinking, looking at the indigenous ceramic medium outside the pigeonhole, and pushing the boundaries of conventional Ghanaian ceramics. Keywords: Rethinking, clay, ceramics, indigenous practices, Ghana Abstrak: Makalah ini membahas praktik tanah liat Ghana dan bagaimana sejarah mereka dan beberapa praktik membatasi wacana tanah liat mereka, menciptakan keterputusan dari praktik ekologi. Komunitas keramik kontemporer dan akademis Barat mengakui kurangnya keragaman dan inklusi dari praktik adat global selatan saat ini dan dalam sejarah, suatu kondisi yang telah konstan sejak ada konsepsi "keramik kontemporer". Dokumentasi seni sebagian besar merupakan provinsi eksklusif sejarawan seni, namun, Ghana tidak pernah memiliki jurusan sejarah seni di universitas mana pun di Ghana termasuk Sekolah Achimota yang didirikan oleh pemerintah kolonial. Ada beberapa situs bahan keramik tetapi tidak ada industri pengolahan untuk membuat produk. Makalah ini menandakan pemikiran ulang bentuk, pertukaran ekonomi, materialitas dan merekomendasikan bahwa perlu untuk memperluas wacana praktik tanah liat Ghana dalam segala bentuk untuk terhubung ke ekologi praktik dengan pemikiran ke depan, melihat media keramik asli di luar pigeonhole, dan mendorong batas-batas keramik Ghana konvensional. Kata kunci: Memikirkan kembali, tanah liat, keramik, praktik pribumi, Ghana 1. Introduction Over the centuries and during the colonial period, it was a commonplace that Westerners considered African art as “primitive” and this perception carried with it a negative influence on the practice of art in Africa. Though Stevens (1930) opined that before the arrival of Western education in the Gold Coast now Ghana, the arts were in a more flourishing state, these ‘primitive’ perceptions of African art lacking technical abilities and low socio-economic status indeed may have limited the practice of art especially clay not to attend to its breadth of cultures and being exclusive in the global practice. The colonial hold on seeing some of the ceramic vessels being used for religious rituals and labelling them as ‘fetish’ contributed a great deal to limiting Ghanaian indigenous pottery and ceramic practice to expand its frontiers of production. While it is worth saying that tradition and culture evolve and change over time due to new developments, it is also significant to note that quite often, when it comes to the story of Africa, until recently, writers tended to isolate and associate tradition to the past and think of modern developments and art practices as not part or representations of African Art. Indeed, it was only after the historic exhibition that art from African, Caribbean, Asian origins began to