Bridging the Global South: art and the memorialisation of slavery, a perspective from Ouidah

Abstract

The history of the transatlantic slave trade has occupied scholars for decades, in particular the extent of damage suffered by the African continent, and the creation of sites of memory in various countries that experienced this miserable trade. Numerous studies have foregrounded the cultural consequences of these deportations by insisting on Africa’s contribution to universal culture in the fields of religion, music, etc. Some scholars, such as Ana Lucia Araujo (2007), have approached this question from the perspective of the shared memory of slavery.1 Others, such as Dana Rush have focused on religious practices and their plasticity.2 Seldom, if ever, have such studies seriously approached the construction of the memory of slavery through the contemporary arts. Here, I will present the case of Ouidah where authorities have tried to construct the memory of slavery within the context of Benin. It is useful to question whether it possible to frame the memory of slavery within a single nation-state, and the extent to which it can be situated more broadly within the Global South.