The Making of Ghana: The Life & Times of a Black Nation

This course investigates the relationship between history, memory, and Blackness in the making of the West African nation, Ghana. This is a study abroad course, that will include a trip to Ghana. Topics will include the trans-Atlantic slave trade, the “Scramble for Africa” and the early colonial era, the achievements of Ghanaian Independence in the 1950s and 60s and the constructions of national and racial identities in contemporary Ghana. We will also examine how such moments have been and continue to be performed in the public sphere. While in Ghana, we will hear lectures by leading Ghanaian scholars and artists, tour relevant historical sites, and attend performances in a variety of cultural locales.