Indigenous Nankani Burial Specialists and Contemporary Ghanaian Mortuary Rites

In many African societies, the transition from the realm of the living to the realm of the dead requires adherence to a variety of traditional mortuary rites, some of which specific individuals or groups perform. Elders and specialized individuals or groups (Undertakers) hold these roles to ensure the dead’s proper transition to the ancestral realm, but various people, including commercial undertakers and other religions, have encroached on them, eroding the crucial role of indigenous undertakers in this transition. Yet, unlike other aspects of funerals amid contemporary social change, scholars have paid little attention to indigenous burial specialists in mortuary rites. Therefore, this study investigates the Nankani Bayasi of the Naaga in Ghana’s Upper East Region to assess the claim of erosion and their contribution to the indigenous knowledge system. Using the phenomenology of religion, the study purposively interviewed 18 respondents and, following a reflective thematic analysis, discussed 8 emerging themes. The study found that attaining burial specialist status among the Nankani is not only a secular vocational designation but also a fundamental metaphysical transformation. This study therefore concludes that the indigenous mortuary specialist among the people of Naaga has not eroded because their double-burial approach continues to function effectively within its religious and cultural context, allowing contemporary mortuary rites to operate in parallel within the community and beyond its members.