When Nadege Anelka first came to the West African country of Benin from her home island of Martinique, a French overseas territory in the Caribbean, the 57-year-old travel agent said she had a feeling of deja vu.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cA lot of the people reminded me of my grandparents, the way they wore their headscarves, their mannerisms, their mentality,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Feeling at home in Benin, Anelka decided to settle there last July and open a travel agency. She hopes to become a citizen by taking advantage of a law passed in September that grants citizenship to those who can trace their lineage to the slave trade.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The new law, which was initiated by President Patrice Talon, who has been in office since 2016, is part of a broader effort by Benin to reckon with its own historical role in the slave trade.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The law is open to all over 18 who do not already hold other African citizenship and can provide proof that an ancestor was deported via the slave trade from anywhere in sub-Saharan Africa. Beninese authorities accept DNA tests, authenticated testimonies and family records.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Anelka used \u201cAnchoukaj\u201d (\u201cAffiliation\u201d in Antillean Creole), a website recognized by Benin to trace her heritage, proving that her ancestors were slaves in Martinique. If her application is successful, she will receive a provisional certificate of nationality valid for three years. To get citizenship, she\u2019ll be required to stay at least once in Benin during that period.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Benin is not the first country to grant citizenship to descendants of slaves. Earlier this month, Ghana naturalized 524 African Americans after the West African country\u2019s president, Nana Akufo-Addo, invited them to \u201ccome home\u201d in 2019, as part of the 400th anniversary of the arrival of the first enslaved Africans in North America in 1619.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But Benin\u2019s citizenship law carries added significance, in part because of the role it played in the slave trade as one of the main points of departure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
European merchants deported an estimated 1.5 million slaves from the Bight of Benin, a territory that includes modern-day Benin and Togo and part of modern-day Nigeria, said Ana Lucia Araujo, a professor of history at Howard University who has spent years researching Benin\u2019s role.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The coastal town of Ouidah was one of Africa\u2019s most active slave-trading ports in the 18th and 19th centuries. Close to a million men, women and children were captured, chained and forced onto ships there, mainly destined for what would become the United States and Brazil and the Caribbean.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Benin has struggled to resolve its legacy of complicity. For over 200 years, powerful kings captured and sold slaves to Portuguese, French and British merchants.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The kingdoms still exist today as tribal networks, and so do the groups that were raided. Rumors that President Patrice Talon is a descendant of slave merchants sparked much debate while he was running for office in 2016. Talon has never publicly addressed the rumors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Benin has openly acknowledged its role in the slave trade, a stance not shared by many other African nations that participated. In the 1990s, Benin hosted an international conference, sponsored by UNESCO, to examine how and where slaves were sold.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Benin has struggled to resolve its legacy of complicity. For over 200 years, powerful kings captured and sold slaves to Portuguese, French and British merchants.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The kingdoms still exist today as tribal networks, and so do the groups that were raided. Rumors that President Patrice Talon is a descendant of slave merchants sparked much debate while he was running for office in 2016. Talon has never publicly addressed the rumors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Benin has openly acknowledged its role in the slave trade, a stance not shared by many other African nations that participated. In the 1990s, Benin hosted an international conference, sponsored by UNESCO, to examine how and where slaves were sold.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Memorial sites are mostly in Ouidah. They include the \u201cDoor of No Return,\u201d which marks the point from which many enslaved people were shipped across the Atlantic, as well as the town\u2019s history museum.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At the \u201cTree of Forgetfulness,\u201d enslaved people were said to be symbolically forced to forget their past lives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cMemories of the slave trade are present on both sides of the Atlantic, but only one of these sides is well known,\u201d said Sind\u00e9 Cheket\u00e9, the head of Benin\u2019s state-run tourism agency.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Nate Debos, 37, an American musician living in New Orleans, learned about Benin\u2019s citizenship law while visiting for the Porto Novo mask festival. He had never been to West Africa before, but his interest in the Vodun religion led him there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Debos is the president of an association called New Orleans National Vodou Day. It mirrors Benin\u2019s Vodun Day, a national holiday on Jan. 10 with a festival in Ouidah celebrating Vodun, an official religion in Benin, practiced by at least a million people in the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It originated in the kingdom of Dahomey \u2014 in the south of present-day Benin \u2014 and revolves around the worship of spirits and ancestors through rituals and offerings. Slavery brought Vodun to the Americas and the Caribbean, where it became Vodou, a blend with Catholicism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cVodou is one of the chains that connects Africa to the Americas,\u201d said Araujo, the professor. \u201cFor enslaved Africans, it was a way of resisting slavery.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
European colonial powers and slave owners sought to suppress African cultural and religious practices. Vodun was preserved through syncretism, as African deities and spirits were merged with or disguised as Catholic saints.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cOur African ancestors were not tribal savages, they had sophisticated cultures with very noble and beautiful spiritual practices,\u201d Debos said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He now seeks to establish more partnerships with collectives practicing Vodun in Benin, which would require him to stay in the country for longer periods. He will apply for citizenship, but not with an intention to move there permanently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAt the end of the day, I am an American, even when I am dressed in the wonderful fabrics and suits they have in Benin,\u201d Debos said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Anelka, the travel agent now living in Benin, said her motivations behind getting Beninese citizenship are mostly symbolic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI know I will never be completely Beninese. I will always be considered a foreigner\u201d she said. \u201cBut I am doing this for my ancestors. It\u2019s a way to reclaim my heritage, a way of getting reparation.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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When Nadege Anelka first came to the West African country of Benin from her home island of Martinique, a French overseas territory in the Caribbean, the 57-year-old travel agent said she had a feeling of deja vu. \u201cA lot of the people reminded me of my grandparents, the way they wore their headscarves, their mannerisms, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":39950,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28,2,212],"tags":[7,30,213],"class_list":{"0":"post-39949","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-culture","8":"category-featured","9":"category-history","10":"tag-apie-project","11":"tag-culture","12":"tag-history"},"yoast_head":"\n