Why forget us? Developing the Three-Town enslaved relics as alternative sites of commemoration in southeastern Ghana

Abstract

ABSTRACT This paper examines preliminary research findings emanating from investigations carried out on the marginalised landscapes and relics of slavery in the Three-Town area of southeastern Ghana. It discusses the politics of exclusion being practised in the choice of histories and sites of enslavement for annual commemorative events in Ghana. The popular knowledge that the trade in humans occurred mostly at Cape Coast and Elmina Castles in the Central Region of Ghana has skewed development and commemorative activities such as Emancipation, PANAFEST and Year of Return programmes toward these exclusive sites of reverence. Lack of attention to the Three-Town sites and other sites of enslavement and their relics by government institutions has exacerbated their exclusion from public discourse and heritage development. This paper questions this indifference by highlighting the tangible and intangible imprints of trans-Atlantic slavery and enslavement on the histories, landscapes and memories of the Somey-Ewe people of Three-Town. It underscores the need — and the ongoing quest by archaeologists — to develop the Three-Town enslaved relics as important enslaved heritage resources and complementary sites of reverence in southeastern Ghana.