Fieldwork in Ghana

1 February 2025

Photo: Jonas Bens

From January 31 to February 18, 2025, our team conducted fieldwork in Ghana to document the material and sensory traces of the transatlantic slave trade at the historic forts and castles along the Ghanaian coast. We visited 22 of the 28 remaining sites.

The team—Jonas Bens, Christian Mader, Philip Atta Mensah, and Ebenezer Mensah Gyimah—focused on Fort William in Anomabu, the only fort purpose-built to hold enslaved people. Combining photogrammetric documentation with multisensory ethnography, we created 3D models of the dungeons, conducted phenomenological interviews with tour guides, and used sensory writing exercises to reflect on the spatial conditions of captivity.