This collective research project with participation of researchers from Denmark and Ghana engages with contemporary imprints of the complex history of slavery in Ghana, asking the question: How does authorship condition political agency in narratives of slavery in Ghana? The project entails a close collaboration between Danish and Ghanaian researchers working together through a series of seminars and events in both countries. Our central hypothesis is that the contemporary political and cultural narratives related to the contested history of slavery have been shaped through strategic uses of different forms of authorship.. We investigate this thesis through three secondary research questions: 1) How do forms of authorship shape narratives on the memory of slavery in Ghana? 2) How are forms of authorship used to sustain and develop political positions in relation to slavery in Ghana. 3) How do forms of authorship in Ghana reproduce and/or counter global discourses on slavery, aid and human rights?

The project runs from June 2021 to May 2024

The project is sponsored by the Independent Research Fund, Denmark

Frits Andersen, Professor in Comparative Literature, Aarhus University

Kofi Anyidoho, Professor of Literature, Department of English, University of Ghana, Legon

Mads Anders Baggesgaard, PI, Associate Professor in Comparative Literature, Aarhus University

William Nsuiban Gmayi, Ghana Museums and Monuments Board 

Anne Green Munk, Postdoc, Comparative Literature, Aarhus University

Lotte Pelckmans, Associate Professor, Centre for Advanced Migration Studies, Copenhagen University

Emmanuel Saboro, Senior Lecturer, Centre for African and International Studies, University of Cape Coast

Karen Margrethe Simonsen, Associate Professor in Comparative Literature, Aarhus University

Helen Atawube Yitah, Professor, Department of English, University of Ghana