This chapter details an autoethnographic account of my embodiment in my father's palace and a suburb in Kumasi known as Fante New Town. These settings influenced my learning of Kete and the acquired realities as a royal turned commoner. I employ autoethnography toward “finding new ways to write about social life and, to better understand our society, and to promote self-reflective and critical research. Therefore, primary-bodily data are of utmost importance [and] autoethnographic research includes methodological implications and raises the question of situating the body about knowledge construction, “evidence and the evidence of knowledge.” I position my embodied recollections concerning the absorption and dissemination of Kete within various contexts of my identity—first as a royal, then as a “commoner,” entertainer, and artist-student-dancer. These corporeal memories are rooted in diverse experiences, encompassing my personal Kete dance training and performances during my childhood. These memories extend through significant phases, including the period before, during, and after my father's installation as a sub-chief in our rural town in Ghana known as Mpohor. They also encompass my active involvement with amateur groups, professional companies, and my time as a student at the University of Ghana's academy. This narrative delves into the intricacies of learning and practicing Kete in Kumasi, incorporating personal anecdotes. Furthermore, it sheds light on the circumstances that led to my transition from royalty to commoner, navigating the performance of identical variations under different identities and locations. This exploration aims to offer a foundation for understanding the dynamics of transmission and assimilation, highlighting the nuanced knowledge acquired within distinct social classes.

This autoethnographic narrative examines my assimilation of the Kete dance within the framework of three categories as outlined by Grit Koeltzsch: (i) self-observation and reflexivity, (ii) bodily perceptions and experiences across time and space, and (iii) past and present (Koeltzsch 2021).

Fieldwork in Ghana

The fieldwork for this research adopted a multisited approach to data collection, focusing on two regional capitals in Ghana: Kumasi, the capital of the Ashanti Region, where the Kete dance originates, and Accra, serving as the capital of the Greater Accra Region and the national capital of Ghana. In Kumasi, I engaged in data gathering, participant observation, and video recording among the master drummers and dancers at the Asante Monarch's palace, known as the Manhyia palace, as well as at other venues such as funerals and parties.