The ghost at the junction: exploring the links between historic and modern slavery in Accra, Ghana

This article explores the conceptual links between historic and modern slavery in James Town, Accra. In Ghana, much of the narrative around the trans-Atlantic Slave Trade is focused on the slave forts at Elmina and Cape Coast. This is the case to such an extent that the position of James Town and Accra more widely has been forgotten. This is partly because the mechanisms used to transport enslaved people, through tunnels built by private merchants, made the trade less visible and so easier to ignore. In this article, we argue that the same issues of invisibility now apply to modern slavery, keeping the trade, and its victims, hidden.