Brazilian-African Diaspora in Ghana: The Tabom, Slavery, Dissonance of Memory, Identity, and Locating Home by Kwame Essien (review)

In Brazilian-African Diaspora in Ghana: The Tabom, Slavery, Dissonance of Memory, Identity, and Locating Home, Kwame Essien breaks new ground in a multi-generational history of freed slaves from Brazil who returned to Ghana in the 19th century. This exploration of reverse migration is timely and important, clearly opening new vistas on the African diaspora, the Atlantic World, and Ghanaian historiography. The Tabom, as they came to be known in Ghana, were welcomed by the Gã, and established themselves as successful farmers, traders, and craftspeople. Yet, after returning to West Africa, they faced new threats to their land and freedom due to the incursions of British imperial interests. In this significant work, Essien traces the little-explored trajectories of the Tabom and their descendants as they struggled to maintain their autonomy, land, and identity from the 19th century until the present. His study deepens the literatures on historical memory and dissonance, identity formation and reconfiguration, the generation of contested spaces, and the multifarious paradoxes of slavery, abolition, and colonialism. Published by Michigan State University Press's Ruth Simms Hamilton African Diaspora Series, this book represents an innovative approach to examinations of past and contemporary African experiences and makes space for new conceptualizations and articulations of the African diaspora.

The book is organized into ten chronological and thematic chapters discussing three generations of Brazilian-Africans in Ghana, loosely corresponding to the precolonial, colonial, and postcolonial periods. It begins with a history of reverse migration: the successful return to Africa by waves of ex-slaves from Brazil in the 1820s and the beginnings of their entwinement with the Gã mãŋ when they were offered land by Mãŋtsɛ Komeh I. Thereafter, they became part of the Gã paramountcy when Mãŋtsɛ Komeh I instructed them to select their own chief. The Brazilian-Africans intermarried with the Gã from the very beginning, and their descendants within the Gã mãŋ became known as the Tabom, derivative of their Brazilian-Portuguese greeting response (tudo bom). One of the most noteworthy strengths of the book is its depiction of the ways these Brazilian-Africans and their descendants maintained and generated complex, plural identities within the larger context of the African diaspora, and the ways in which the relative importance attached to them has changed through time, reflecting broader historical and political dynamics. The Brazilian-Africans brought skills and trades with them across the Atlantic, contributing immensely to the social fabric and economic development of Accra and its environs. Settled yet mobile, some maintained trading and familial linkages with other areas of coastal West Africa that hosted communities of Brazilian-Africans, particularly Lagos.

In an illuminating contribution, Essien also examines the degree to which some of these ex-slaves became involved in slavery themselves as they pursued available economic opportunities in the region, despite their own horrific memories in Brazil. Although landownership for first-generation Brazilian-Africans secured a sense of liberty, their descendants were chronically enmeshed in bitter land disputes in the wake of oppressive colonial policies that disregarded traditional land tenure practices. Other factors included dissonance in historical memory of land ownership, further compounded by generational shifts in the meaning and importance of land. While some community members wanted to maintain the land for agrarian purposes, others sought to sell or rent their holdings.

The latter chapters of the book discuss the complex iterations of Tabom identity in postcolonial Ghana, alongside fading memories of Brazil. Inter-married and culturally integrated with the Gã for generations, the Tabom have long been neglected in the historiography of Ghana, despite several becoming nationally famous for their athletic achievements and holding high-profile government positions. Moreover, the Tabom have largely been left out of the spotlight given by the government and media to more recent waves of diaspora returnees, and they remain on the periphery of the heritage tourism industry. Meanwhile, the Brazilian government...