Sartorial symbolism and national identity construction of Ghana’s Speaker of Parliament robes

Samuel Donkoh & Osuanyi Quaicoo Essel (2026)

The study examines the design structure, symbolic content, and national identity constructs embedded in the Speaker of Parliament’s robes across Ghana’s major political epochs. Anchored in a qualitative historical research design. With the aid of expert purposive sampling technique, the study engaged six key stakeholders with specialised institutional and cultural knowledge through semi-structured interviews complemented by archival photographs of the parliamentary robes of present and past parliament speakers. Thematic and visual analysis constituted the methods of data analysis. The findings revealed that the design structure of Ghana’s parliamentary robes is firmly rooted in the British Westminster parliamentary tradition, reflecting the country’s colonial legislative inheritance and the desire for institutional continuity, formality, and global parliamentary legitimacy. The Eurocentric forms of parliamentary robes have not been adopted uncritically; they have been deliberately glocalised through the incorporation of Ghanaian national colours and Adinkra symbols. These indigenous elements function as visual signifiers that embed Ghanaian philosophies, values, and collective memory into the robes, thereby transforming them into hybrid dress fashion that simultaneously references colonial legacy and cultural reclamation. Consequently, the speaker’s robe emerges as a performative artefact that symbolically positions the speaker as both a neutral constitutional authority and a culturally grounded national figure. The study concludes that Ghana’s parliamentary robes serve as dynamic visual instruments that continuously negotiate and express the nation’s evolving democratic identity. It recommends the formal archiving, documentation, and preservation of these robes as significant national heritage artefacts.