Collective memory and the transatlantic slave trade: Remembering education towards new diasporic connections

Abstract

In countries from which enslaved Africans were forcibly taken to the new world, critical discussion of the Transatlantic Slave Trade (TST) and its Diaspora remains elusive, especially in educational spaces. Ghana is one such country that is deeply connected to the TST and yet struggles to engage it in the social studies syllabus. This article contributes to this literature by using a single instrumental case study approach to interrogate the inherent contradictions in Ghana’s collective remembering of the TST and its Diaspora in the junior high school (JHS) social studies syllabus. Using data from nine interviews and a directed content analysis of the 2007–2019 JHS social studies syllabus, I find that while the syllabus highlights the TST, it fails to critically and deeply engage students on either the TST or its Diaspora. Rather, it situates the TST as a minor event in the broader and monumental colonial, anti-colonial, and post-independence narratives. Ultimately, this creates misinformation and ignorance about the TST and its Diaspora among Ghanaian youth, further facilitating a disconnection between them and the TST’s Diaspora. In the article, I discuss broader implications for African and African Diaspora relationships and solidarity. I recommend a critical collective remembering (CCR) approach to teaching the TST which comprehensively highlights actors, victims, survivors, counter-narratives, and contemporary implications. CCR uses relevant creative, technology-based, and collaborative pedagogical and dialogical methods to make this history and social studies education relevant and meaningful for the younger generation.

Keywords:

• Social studies
• transatlantic slave trade
• African Diaspora
• curriculum studies
• critical collective remembering

Acknowledgments

The author acknowledges Drs. Lisa Weems, Denise Taliafero-Baszile, George M. Bob-Milliar, and Kelly Hilton, and the anonymous reviewers for their constructive and thoughtful comments on earlier drafts of this article.

Disclosure statement

The author reports no potential conflict of interest financially or otherwise.

Notes

1 This paragraph is based on the author’s personal experiences and reflections.

2 This term is used in the “ethno-national” context as defined by Sheffer (2003, p. 9).

3 These symbolise chieftaincy offices in Ghana.

4 The king of the Asante Kingdom.

5 “We” and “us” represent Ghanaians, “they,” “their,” and “them” represent African Americans. “I” is the author. Narratives are from the interviews.

6 The name has since reverted to the Ministry of Education.

7 The Ministry of Education restructured and revised the entire basic school curriculum.

8 The Big Six collectively refers to a group of six nationalists who are credited with Ghana’s independence.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Phyllis Kyei Mensah

Phyllis Kyei Mensah is a doctoral candidate affiliated with the Department of Educational Leadership, Miami University. She is a former Eni Scholar and a UCEA Jackson Scholar. Her research interests include Indigenous Ghanaian epistemologies and practices, critical, anti-colonial, and African feminist theories and practices.