Panel 1: Sites of Departure/Sites of Return

The Africa Institute hosts 'Global Ghana: Sites of Departure/Sites of Return', the second edition of its ‘country-focused season’—an annual initiative exploring one African country or African diaspora community through a range of scholarly and public programs.

About the Panel Discussion:
Through strategic cultivation of its cultural heritage tourism sector, Ghana has emerged as the continent’s premier destination for diasporic Africans wishing to “return” home. While the country’s recent “Year of Return” initiative captured global media attention, its success was premised on a much longer history of departure and diasporic return to Ghana and West Africa more broadly. This panel explores the complex history and contemporary aspirations that have made Ghana one of the world’s most important sites of departure and sites of return.

Panelists:
Jessica Millward, Professor of History, University of California at Irvine, USA
Kwesi Essel-Blankson, Regional Director, Ghana Museums and Monuments Board, Ghana
Ebony Coletu, Professor, Pennsylvania State University, USA
Fatimah Dadzie, Independent Filmmaker

Moderator:
Carina Ray, Associate Professor of African and African American Studies, Brandeis University, USA

Read more: https://theafricainstitute.org/