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I feel compelled to drop a few lines about the meaning of this memorable event for me and probably for other African scholars who took part in the conference.

One could hardly say at the beginning of the Elmina conference that its success is a foregone conclusion. Personally I came to the conference with a great deal of misgivings, not to say perplexity. My uneasiness of mind stemmed from two conditions which are closely related in my identity. I am a direct descendant of King Ghezo, a notorious slave-trading ruler of the Bight of Benin, and secondly my guilt consciousness always predisposes me not to take any ideological stance which might be at variance with that of the African Americans or Africans of the Diaspora in general who have already expressed specific views on the issue of the Atlantic Slave Trade and its reparation. So I said to myself that the Elmina conference, like any gatherings of the kind, is likely to yield nothing more than acrimonious debates, which will eventually generate more heat than light. As this conviction became more entrenched in me I began to rehearse in mind a few scenarios which might help defuse the impending looming crisis in which I might get involved. For instance if it comes to the crunch and I have no argument against the accusation of betraying the African Diaspora by striking a deal between perpetrators that will drown their call for reparation under the chorus of praises for the Abolition I will simply bolt away and return home. But a vague feeling of pride in me suggested that I should stand my ground and take a bold defense of my ancestor, who was after all a very good and clever man, despite his involvement in the Atlantic slave trade. But apparently it is playing the devil’s advocate as there are no extenuating circumstances for my ancestor, who had continuously kicked against the abolition of the Atlantic slave trade and dodged all the alternatives proposed to him as a way out.

It was in this frame of mind that I attended the opening ceremony of the conference. Then a miracle took place which dissipated all my doubts. This miracle was nothing less than the brilliantly delivered keynote addresses successively by the Vice-President of Ghana, Professor Afigbo, and Professor Ron Hoffman. From then on I knew that it was possible to open a frank dialogue between all stake-holders of the Atlantic slave trade without looking foolish or countenancing a dialogue of the deaf. Indeed by focusing attention on Africa, the keynote addresses meant business: that is, a careful diagnosis of the predicament of the continent, past and present, of which the Atlantic slave trade is an epiphenomenon, albeit an horrendous one. To achieve this consensus-building initiative the conference had to fulfill two important requirements in terms of methodology and empathy.

Indeed as far as I can recall it is the first international conference where the African perspective was given so much prominence. Not only were African scholars all over the continent represented in their numbers, the conference in its proceedings was prepared to take the epistemological jump into the unknown by giving more attention to African oral tradition. Usually this is not the case as this store of evidence about African societies continues to be treated in academic circles as second-class evidence. African scholars feel resentful because in Western academia Jan Vansina is still perceived as the odd one out. Yet his approach, which is closely followed on the African continent, is the harbinger of a revolution in historical methods as far as Africa is concerned. The conference, by laying more emphasis on oral tradition, is perhaps a belated recognition of the efforts of this pioneer.

Secondly the conference is a great achievement in our quest for a more broadly based humanity. One of the overriding conclusions of the conference is that the improvement of life on our common planet, Earth, is not indifferent to the broadening of the bounds of humanity. Many of the papers presented have stressed the fact that notwithstanding the role played by economic factors in the abolition of the Atlantic slave trade, in the end it was the change of perception about fellow human beings which carried the day. This change was brought about by an undercurrent of religious revivalism which eventually swept the shore of the African continent in the wake of the Abolitionist movement. There it began to undermine the old vision of humanity cemented by blood.

May this great discovery of the Elmina conference continue to inspire us in our struggle for more equitable relations between nations!