Name: Joseph Bernard Eshun
Year in program: 2024/2025
Primary supervisor: Prof. Walter Hawthorne
Major field: African History
Minor fields: TBD
Link to your personal page or profile: https://michiganstate.academia.edu/JosephBernardEshun
I am a first-year doctoral student in African History. My area of research interest lies in the histories and memories surrounding the transatlantic slave trade, particularly at sites that are significant to the legacy of slavery in Africa. My Ph.D. work at MSU will focus on how the forts and castles of Ghana have been transformed for various purposes over the years rather than as memory locations for the slave trade as well as how Ghanaians and African Americans perceive these sites today. My MA thesis, limited to Fort William, Anomabo, will be expanded to cover many of these memory sites in my doctoral research. Themes of identity, memory, and asymmetrical power relationships will be touched on in my research.
Additionally, I maintain a strong interest in digital history, African American history, and Black Atlantic history.