TransArea Network Africa (TANA) meeting in Ghana

Between 24 and 28 February 2022 the 8th annual meeting of the Trans Area Network Africa (TANA) of the German Archaeological Institute (DAI) took place in collaboration with the University of Ghana in Accra/Legon. TANA brings together researchers from various DAI departments who are working on the African continent or are engaged in cultural heritage preservation, presentation and education projects in Africa. Apart from regularly meeting in Germany, the TANA group had the opportunity to exchange research ideas, approaches and results with colleagues from the African continent during meetings in Tunisia (2017) and Egypt (2018). The 2022 TANA meeting is the first to take place in sub-Saharan Africa; it was organized together with the School of Arts at the University of Ghana, especially the Department of Archaeology and Heritage Studies. The TANA meeting provided a perfect opportunity to explore fields of cooperation between TANA members and colleagues from the Department of Archaeology and Heritage Studies.

At the beginning of the TANA meeting the delegates were welcomed warmly by the Vice Chancellor of the University of Ghana, Prof. Nana Aba Appiah Amfo. The Dean of the School of Arts, Prof. Wazi Apoh, introduced the TANA group and the rationale of the joint meeting in Ghana to the VC. His remarks were followed by his excellency, the Vice Ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany, Hans-Helge Sander, who outlined some of the successful areas of cooperation between Ghana and Germany in the fields of education and culture, which are now receiving a new facet in form of joint archaeological heritage projects. Lastly, the Coordinator of the TANA network and First Director of the Commission for Archaeology of Non-European Cultures (KAAK) at the DAI, Dr. Jörg Linstädter, thanked the hosts of the TANA meeting and expressed TANA members’ eagerness for entering into a scientific dialogue with Ghanaian colleagues and establishing cooperative projects.

During two days of lectures TANA members and scholars from UG discussed their current work, presenting projects from Egypt, Sudan, Ethiopia and Eswatini and heritage studies in Ghana. The second day was dedicated to the ‘Archaeology of Colonialism’, a subject that has been a focus of extensive research at the Department of Archaeology and Heritage Studies for some time and that has recently become a research concern at 

the DAI. The TANA meeting also provided the stage for finally welcoming Prof. Wazi Apoh as corresponding member of the DAI. The handover of the certificate was preceded by speeches by his excellency, the Vice Ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany, Hans-Helge Sander, and Dr. Friedrich Lüth from the TANA group, and concluded by a welcome speech by the Provost of College of Humanities of the University of Ghana, Prof. Dan Ofori.

After the lectures, attendees were treated to a guided tour of the Museum of Archaeology at the University of Ghana, a steadily growing university collection that reflects current research in its displays on the archaeology of colonialism while also representing the deeper past of Ghana. During a two-day excursion to the Volta region led by Prof. Wazi Apoh, TANA delegates were able to visit some of the places in the former German colony Togoland, which they had learned about during the lectures. Among the sites visited were the Mission station and local museum at Ho as well as the colonial headquarters and the Steyler mission site at Kpando-Todzi.

The TANA group is extremely thankful for the warm welcome to Ghana by our colleagues at the University of Ghana and the German Embassy in Accra and is looking forward to fruitful collaboration.

Link to press release University of Ghana

Further information on TANA

Link to TANA brochure (2018 edition)