Slavery, memory and orality : analysis of song texts from northern Ghana
This thesis explores memories of slavery and the slave trade among the Bulsa and Kasena of northern Ghana and focuses on late nineteenth century internal slave trafficking. Previous studies on memories of the slave trade in Ghana have focused on the transatlantic slave trade and the trauma of the Middle Passage and have relied on the use of conventional historical methodology such as shipping records, missionary and traveller accounts and the perspectives of colonial officials leaving out the experiences of the descendants of those who were mostly considered as victims. This thesis, by contrasts adopts an interdisciplinary approach and engages with new material from the interior of Africa where most slaves were captured and aims at shifting the focus from the use of conventional historical methodology by seeking to establish the voices of descendants of enslaved communities in northern Ghana through a critical study of their songs. Drawing largely from extensive field work through recording of traditional performances and interviews within these cultures and from a corpus of about 140 with a representative sample of 100 songs, this distinctive body of oral sources aims to contribute to the general body of
Saboro, Emmanuel
History
Slavery, memory and orality : analysis of song texts from northern Ghana. This thesis explores memories of slavery and the slave trade among the Bulsa and Kasena of northern Ghana and focuses on late nineteenth century internal slave trafficking. Previous studies on memories of the slave trade in Ghana have focused on the transatlantic slave trade and the trauma of the Middle Passage and have relied on the use of conventional historical methodology such as shipping records, missionary and traveller accounts and the perspectives of colonial officials leaving out the experiences of the descendants of those who were mostly considered as victims. This thesis, by contrasts adopts an interdisciplinary approach and engages with new material from the interior of Africa where most slaves were captured and aims at shifting the focus from the use of conventional historical methodology by seeking to establish the voices of descendants of enslaved communities in northern Ghana through a critical study of their songs. Drawing largely from extensive field work through recording of traditional performances and interviews within these cultures and from a corpus of about 140 with a representative sample of 100 songs, this distinctive body of oral sources aims to contribute to the general body of
slavery memory orality analysis song texts northern ghana explores memory slavery slave_trade among northern ghana focus internal slave previous_study memory slave_trade ghana focus transatlantic slave_trade trauma middle passage rely use_conventional historical shipping record missionary traveller account perspectives colonial official leave experience descendant mostly consider victim contrast adopts interdisciplinary engage new material interior africa slave capture aim shift_focus use_conventional historical seek_establish voice descendant enslave community_northern ghana critical_study song drawing largely extensive field work record traditional performance interview within culture corpus representative_sample song distinctive body oral_source aim_contribute general body