“Sankɔfa has suffered”—On Melancholy, Diaspora and Refuge

In 2007, an apology was made by the nation of Ghana to descendants of trans-Atlantic slaves. Along with this apology came the Joseph Project—Ghana’s attempt to reconcile and provide reparations to the slave babies to evoke Hartman (2008) . Ghana attempted to evoke its own “Josephs” to embark on a journey of reconciliation and (re) connection. The Ghanaian state articulated this project in terms of the responsibility of the diaspora to its African brothers and sisters as well as to the “homeland,” calling upon the notion of Sankɔfa, which emphasizes a wisdom in the concept of return. Ghana made several calls to the diaspora to return, invest and support their brothers and sisters. Such collective apologies have necessarily proven to be phenomena of the 20th–21st centuries, yet Ghana’s 2007 apology and the Joseph Project are riddled with contradictions. Not only do they conceal the historical relations which allowed the trans-Atlantic slave trade to flourish but it also appropriates the radicalness of the Pan-African movement to ensure “investments” and, by doing so, distorts Sankɔfa.