Lose Your Mother: A Journey Along The Atlantic Slave Route

In Hartman’s view, to what degree did the transatlantic slave trade radically alter the character and significance of African practices of enslavement, even though these practices existed before colonization?

At one point, Hartman mentions Thomas Sankara. Research him and discuss his significance for the dream of a more egalitarian world that Hartman articulates.

Discuss the role of military coups in West Africa with specific reference to Ghana and Congo. What role has neocolonialism played in determining the fates of newly independent West African nations?

How does Hartman’s own family experience inform her research project? Discuss the role of memory in her family. How does her father’s experience help her to come to terms with her disappointment about not finding family roots in Ghana?

How are specific places significant for Hartman? Choose three and discuss how she interprets their role in slavery.

Hartman gets into a debate with African scholars regarding the meaning of slavery. Who do you feel is right? Discuss the reasons each side offers and evaluate them against the evidence your research provides.

Why are figures such as Richard Wright and Malcolm X important to Hartman? Who were they and how do their writings frame Hartman’s encounter with her African past? Specifically, how are these men connected to her dream of a pan-African community based on equality and freedom?

Hartman evokes the figure of William Wilberforce. Who was he, and why is he significant?