What is Abibifahodie?
Quite simply, Abibifahodie translates to Afrikan Liberation. It is a term coined by Dr. Ọbádélé Kambon that encapsulates the need for Afrikan Diasporans with sense to take agency and create the terms that express our political exigencies rather than waiting for them to be created for us by our cousins who may be indifferent to such considerations.
Abibifahodie is from the Akan language and is comprised of the following morphemes
a – nominalizing prefix often used for abstract nouns
bibi – black (used in compounds for anything relating to Afrikan people as, in the language, Black and Afrikan are synonyms)
fa – take
ho – body
di – control (with a root meaning of eat/consume)
e – nominalizing suffix found in Asante Twi
Thus, the Abibi- portion connotes Afrikan people where as the -fahodie portion connotes taking control of one’s own body/liberation.
To commemorate this coinage, we have also created the following Adinkra:
The name Abibifahodie is from the Asante Twi language and is best rendered into english as “Afrikan Liberation.” Afrikan Liberation is the focus of our group in keeping with the history of capoeira in its use as an instrument for the liberation of Afrikan people. Our logo is a newly created adinkra symbol called Abibifahodie ‘Afrikan Liberation’ and formed out of two pre-existing Adinkra symbols, namely akobɛn with the accompanying proverb in the Twi language of Ghana Akobɛn bɔ a, na yɛhunu mmarima ‘ When the war horn sounds is when we see men’ and nkyinkyimiiɛ with the accompanying proverb Ɔbra ne kwan yɛ nkyinkyimiiɛ ‘Life’s path is twists and turns’. The combination of bravery and adaptability encapsulates much of the philosophy of Capoeira and nkyinkyimiiɛ is also used in the logo of Capoeira Akebelan where Dr. Ọbádélé Kambon spent several of his formative years in Capoeira.
Abibifahodie