Reflections in a Shattered Glass: The British Council's Celebrations of the Bicentenary of the 1807 Act for the Abolition of the Slave Trade in Ghana

Abstract

This article examines the Ghanaian celebrations of the bicentenary of the 1807 Act for the Abolition of the Slave Trade, which were commissioned by the British Council. It argues that these celebrations acted primarily to promote a benign view of Britain's relationship with Africa, rather than a realistic reckoning with a past of slave trading and colonialism.