Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book follows the traces of homecoming as an idea as well as a process and leads into the spheres of practical intersection and discursive overlapping of different aspects of the phenomenon. The book shows the multifarious character of the encounter between African diaspora and homeland by opening up a specter of perspectives, ranging from the Ghanaian state and its bureaucracy to diasporan repatriates. Homecoming is, above anything else, negotiated in the sphere of the emerging tourism industry in Ghana. Indeed, the contested nature of the incorporation of Pan-Africanism and slavery into a commercial framework. The journey of African Americans to the slave sites has often been described as a pilgrimage. Another famous memorial is the Maison des Esclaves on the island of Gore in Senegal.