Date of Award
5-10-2026
Date Published
June 2026
Degree Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Arts (MA)
Department
African American Studies
Advisor(s)
Joan Bryant
Keywords
Brazil;Diaspora;Ghana;Memory;Return;Tabom
Subject Categories
African Studies | International and Area Studies | Social and Behavioral Sciences
Abstract
This thesis examines the historical and cultural significance of the Tabom community in Accra, Ghana, as a case study in diasporic identity, collective memory, and return migration. As descendants of Afro-Brazilian returnees who arrived in the Gold Coast in the early nineteenth century, the Tabom occupy a distinctive position within Ghana's social and historical landscape, navigating multiple cultural affiliations across Brazilian, Yoruba, Hausa, Ga, and Ghanaian identities over generations. Drawing on ethnographic research conducted in Jamestown, Accra, including semi-structured interviews, participant observation, and oral history collection, this thesis argues that Tabom identity is neither static nor reducible to a singular origin story. Rather, the Tabom continuously produce their identity through selective remembrance, embodied practice, spatial negotiation, and transnational engagement. Grounded in an interdisciplinary theoretical framework that brings diaspora studies and memory studies into conversation, the thesis draws on the work of scholars including Jan Assmann, Paul Connerton, James Clifford, and Clifford Geertz to analyze how Tabom memory operates across different social contexts and generations. The analysis demonstrates that a small number of recognized cultural authorities curate and transmit memory within the Tabom community rather than having the community share it broadly, reflecting Assmann's concept of cultural memory as dependent on specialized practice and institutional transmission. Through close examination of key sites such as the Brazil House and the First Scissors House, as well as analysis of agbe music, religious practice, naming traditions, and diplomatic encounters with Brazilian officials, the thesis shows that Tabom identity persists not only through explicit historical narration but also through embodied practices that carry historical meaning even when practitioners no longer fully understand their origins or semantics. These findings contribute to broader debates in diaspora and memory studies concerning return, belonging, and the ongoing negotiation of the past in the present.
Access
Open Access
Recommended Citation
Danso, Elizabeth Akosua Adobea, "Remembering Return: Diasporic Identity and the Tabom Community in Accra" (2026). Theses - ALL. 1037.
https://surface.syr.edu/thesis/1037
