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The Ashanti people, also known as the Asante, are from the western coast of Africa (in what is today Ghana and Togo). In the novel, both Yao and Abena are Ashanti, meaning that Tituba is half-Ashanti. Moreover, by identifying her mother and adoptive father in this way, Tituba highlights the importance of diaspora (the community of people from a common homeland now scattered throughout the world) and continues to claim her African identity in the face of white supremacy and enslavement.
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Ashanti Term Timeline in I, Tituba, Black Witch of Salem
The timeline below shows where the term Ashanti appears in I, Tituba, Black Witch of Salem. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Part 1: Chapter 1
Tituba tells the story of her birth. Her mother Abena was an Ashanti woman who was captured, enslaved, and brought from West Africa to Barbados on a slave...
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...Darnell flies into a rage. He then sends Abena to go live with Yao, another Ashanti enslaved man.
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...women are so much more vulnerable than men. Instead of naming the child a standard Ashanti name, Yao invents the name of “Tituba”; Tituba feels that her names signals that she...
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