RUcore Resource Object
RUcore Resource Object
PDF-1(1.09 MB)
TitlePreservation of the slave sites on West Africa’s coast
NameJohnson, Stephanie A. (author), Woodhouse-Beyer, Katharine (chair), St. Clair Harvey, Archer (internal member), Kahlaoui, Tarek (internal member), Rutgers University, Graduate School - New Brunswick,
Degree Date2012-05
Date Created2012
SubjectArt History,
Slave trade--Africa, West--History,
Historic sites--Conservation and restoration--Africa, West
DescriptionThis thesis will explore the history and cultural heritage of the structures and sites along the West African coast, occupied by Europeans during the trans-Atlantic Slave Trade. It may appear overly ambitious to study the entire West African coast, but this will present a brief history of the development of the site, their structures and the slave trade. I will focus on efforts made by international organizations and African nations to preserve the structures as well as their efforts to create memorial museums. This research is based upon secondary research, such as scholarly books, articles, reports by archaeologists who have worked on the sites, and data collected from organizations such as the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). These structures and sites are material evidence of the slave trade and the early African-European encounter. Using four sites as case studies: Bunce Island, Sierra Leone; Savi, Benin; Goree Island, Senegal; and St. George Elmina, Ghana, I will discuss the existing practice of preserving the sites as memorial museums. The preservation of these sites are increasingly necessary due to the influx of tourists of African descent travel to West Africa in an attempt to find their “roots.” Some sites have received more attention and visitation than others. Slavery and the slave trade dominate the narratives of the sites, which raise questions of authenticity because most of the information is provided through oral tradition. Adequate historical and archaeological research in the area of the sites must be made to prove their legitimacy as slave structures.
NoteM.A.
NoteIncludes bibliographical references
NoteIncludes vita
Noteby Stephanie A. Johnson
Genretheses
Persistent URLhttp://hdl.rutgers.edu/1782.1/rucore10001600001.ETD.000065166
Languageeng
CollectionGraduate School - New Brunswick Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Organization NameRutgers, The State University of New Jersey
RightsThe author owns the copyright to this work.