Making Home(land) and Reimagining Belonging in a Sea of Blackness: An Anthropological study About Blackness and Diasporic Journeys in Ghana

Abstract

This bachelor’s thesis is an ethnographic study about contemporary migration of African dias- porans to Ghana. By centering the voices and narratives of diasporic individuals who have re- located to Ghana, the study explores the motivations to move to Ghana and lived experiences of the participant of the study. The thesis draws on theories of racialization, holistic Pan-Afri- canism, diasporic consciousness, and emic concepts to understand how individuals identify themselves as, as well as how they imagine Ghana as a home and place of refuge. Through ethnographic interviews, participant observations and autoethnographic methodolo- gies, the research highlights how Ghana as a geographic destination is a space for healing and reconnection. Through the narratives of both historical and continental African diasporans, two diasporic groups that the research identified, it becomes evident that Ghana serves as a symbolic and material landscape for diasporans who seek to reclaim agency over their lives, bodies and futures. The thesis is written in English, and it argues that migration of African diasporans to Ghana, reflects not only a physical relocation, but a reorientation of belonging and freedom. The con- cept of belonging, as shown in the study, is fluid. Its fluidity is politically and emotionally charged, as well as shaped by memory, resistance and the hope for liberation.