Sunsum

A person's spirit or personality in the Akan tradition; it is said to travel during sleep.

In Akan thought the sunsum is a person's spirit or personality: what gives someone their character, presence and strength. The word is also connected with shadow. Where the ɔkra is the soul that comes from God and carries your destiny, the sunsum is more the part you show in the world and that can be shaped.

According to the tradition the sunsum is passed on through the father, connected with the ntoro, the paternal spiritual line, while the blood, mogya, comes from the mother. So every person is connected with two families, in two ways. Ghanaian philosophers such as Kwame Gyekye have written a great deal about how these parts relate, and different views exist.

A sunsum can be strong or weak. Someone with a strong sunsum is seen as steadfast, brave and hard to influence. A weak sunsum would be more susceptible to fear, outside influences and misfortune. According to the tradition the sunsum can be strengthened through a good life, prayer and the support of family and ancestors.

For dreams the sunsum is the most important concept. During sleep the sunsum is said to be able to leave the body and travel: to other places, to the living and to the dead. What you dream is, in this view, sometimes what your sunsum experienced along the way. A dream in which you fly, travel far or meet people you have not seen for a long time is read this way. A dream in which you are chased or held can be read as a sunsum disturbed on its way.

Dreamkin does not establish what happens to anyone's sunsum. We describe how dreams are often read in this tradition, and we do not predict misfortune.