By Rugia Wijsman

I was born in Paramaribo, Suriname, a daughter of primarily descendants of enslaved Africans.
During my schoolyears the awareness of the slave trade and the slavery in Suriname was profoundly educated whereas the term diaspora was underexposed untill recently. The term descendants of enslaved Africans was more commonly used than the term diaspora which is commonly used as the migration from one location to different locations world wide.

Lesson learned from this course are:
There has to be a paradigm shift in comprehension of the African diaspora. Diaspora is not a single experience but a plural, dynamic process involving identity formation, memory, cultural production, and transnational connections. Africa should be placed as an active site in which the African migrations include Atlantic dispersions, Indian Ocean connections, Trans -Saharan movements and Intra-African and modern global migrations.

Awareness that one has to broaden the geographies and chronologies of slavery studies, and to move beyond Atlantic-centered narratives. Indian Ocean slavery long predates the Atlantic System in which the Dutch East India Company (VOC) was one of the largest slave-trading entities in the world during the seventeenth century with routes between East Africa, South Asia and Southeast Asia. The Indian Ocean slave trade- including its Dutch variant- is older, more complex, and more globally integrated than the more commonly studied Atlantic slave trade. Indian Ocean slavery differed from Atlantic slavery in scale, purpose, and social dynamics. It was more multidirectional, multiethnic, and integrated into local societies, and it often involved different forms of bondage, including debt bondage, household slavery, and various coercive labor systems.

Awareness that the total Africans that were transported across the Atlantic was bigger, more regionally complex, and more internally varied than previously understood.
Awareness that shipboard revolts were a central and formative part of the Atlantic slave trade. These revolts were frequent, patterned, and often rooted in African social structures, political authority, and cultural cohesion in which the African captives used their organizational skills, leadership traditions, and communal ties to plan and enact uprisings aboard slave ships. These revolts significantly affected how the slave trade developed—shaping ship design, trade logistics, mortality rates, and the tactics of slave traders. 4
Awareness that the nineteenth-century slave-trade abolition was shaped less by pure moral transformation and more by international politics, diplomatic reputations, imperial rivalry, and national self-image. States often embraced antislavery language and treaties to “keep up appearances”—to appear civilized, modern, or morally superior—while simultaneously allowing illegal slave trading to continue, or selectively enforcing abolition according to national interests. The article reveals the tension between public antislavery posturing and private political or economic motivations.
Awareness that abolition did not automatically produced economic, social or political equality; emancipation alone is insufficient for true liberty.
Awareness that Migration “back to Africa” was motivated by freedom, opportunity, and cultural identity, but rarely realized all aspirations fully. Diaspora migration reinforced transatlantic African networks and facilitated cultural exchange.

There is a distinction between Pan-Africanism and pan-Africanism:
– Pan-Africanism (capital “P”) is the organized, political movement advocating for African unity, self-determination, and anti-colonial struggle.
– pan-Africanism (lowercase “p”) is the broader intellectual, cultural, or symbolic expressions of solidarity among people of African descent
Pan Africanism was never purely an African phenomenon; it was transatlantic and transnational in scope, reflecting the mobility and influence of African-descended peoples.
Liberia was founded in the 19th century by freed African-Americans (the Americo-Liberians) and represented one of the few African-led states in the Atlantic world. It became a testing ground for Pan-African ideals: settlement projects, diaspora engagement, and attempts at economic and cultural development. While some focus on slavery and its legacies, others represents the post-abolition effort to reclaim autonomy, identity, and opportunity. Liberia serves as a symbolic and practical continuation of African agency post-slavery.10
The African Union formally recognizes people of African descent outside the continent as a constitutive region of Africa, alongside North, West, Central, East, and Southern Africa.

Conclusion:
As a descendant of enslaved Africans and born in Suriname my physical footprints are in Suriname, Curacao, Aruba and the Netherlands. I share maternal genetic ancestry with the Fula People living in Guinea-Bissau, Kpelle People living in Liberia, Mandinka People living in Senegal and Mende People living in Sierra Leone. There is a 50% certainty that my paternal ancestry is from the Nigerian region.
The intra-African migration whether it was voluntarily or not, the slave trade and the slavery that my ancestors were subjected to, has a tremendous impact on who I am today. First of all I consider myself more a PSA and member of the diaspora from Suriname living in the Netherlands than a member of the African diaspora living in the Netherlands. The government of Suriname prefers the term PSA, persoon van Surinaamse Afkomst (Person of Surinamese descent) above the term diaspora. The PSA status formalizes the bond with Suriname (person with at least one parent or grandparent born in Suriname) without a double nationality whereas the term diaspora defines the total Surinamese community outside the borders of Suriname.
I am in the process of experiencing to be indeed a member of the African diaspora. This was triggered when I started my family tree and when I analysed my DNA for ancestry linkages. As I watched the movie Amistad based on events in 1839 and knowing that I share maternal genetic ancestry with Mende people living in Sierra Leone I am proud that this shipboard revolt was ultimately successful. It is unknown to me if I had ancestors in the shipboard revolts before the coast of Suriname ( e.g. Neptunes, de Vigilante, de Leusden), but nevertheless I comprehend that these revolts significantly affected how the slave trade developed.
The Dutch ended slave trade in 1814 and ended slavery in Suriname on the 1th of July1863 with an extra mandatory 10 year state supervision for the enslaved through a contract with their former owners. The Dutch were keeping up the appearances as they were allowing illegal slave trade decades after1814 since there are track records in slave registers from 1826-1865.

I am very proud to be a descendent of the Kpelle People living in Liberia since Liberia that was founded in the 19th century by freed African-Americans (the Americo-Liberians) and represented one of the few African-led states in the Atlantic world became a testing ground for Pan-African ideals: settlement projects, diaspora engagement, and attempts at economic and cultural development. There was the post-abolition effort to reclaim autonomy, identity, and opportunity. I acknowledge that abolition did not automatically produced economic, social or political equality; emancipation alone is insufficient for true liberty. Personally in my opinion both expressions of Pan- Africanism can contribute to the total unity of Africa and its descendants.
It gives me great pleasure to know that the African Union formally recognizes people of African descent outside the continent as a constitutive region of Africa, the Sixth Region, alongside North, West, Central. East and Southern Africa.
This Sixth region builds on historic Pan-African ideals but there is progress needed regarding institutional inclusion and questions of representation.
Do I qualify myself as part of the African diaspora?
In my heart I do qualify myself as part of the African diaspora because of the knowledge that my ancestors were once subject to the slave trade, but at the other hand not knowing the exact regions/countries of which the sense of belonging can be pinned on contributes to unresolved issues such as identity, citizenship, eligibility and accountability.
What will the future hold?
To embrace the concept of being part of the African diaspora I will embrace my proven maternal ancestry and will pursue knowledge of my paternal ancestry. Furthermore I will continue to broaden my spectrum of Africa, its history and its perspectives and I will stimulate others also to do so, so that once in the near future all people of African descents will be an unity to contribute to the development of Africa.
This can be achieved with a Community Impact Project with a platform where literature is easy accessible and where there is a possibility to connect with professionals in the diaspora. Awareness programmes will be started through school programmes, programmes on TV and social media where the history of Africa and the possibilities to re-connect will be highlighted.
Awareness starts at home and it is our responsibility to contribute to this.
Thank you.
Rugia
References:
1. Zeleza, Paul T. (2005), Rewriting the African Diaspora: Beyond the Black Atlantic, African Affairs, 104(414), 35–68
2.Vink, Markus (2003), “The World’s Oldest Trade”: Dutch Slavery and Slave Trade in the Indian Ocean in the Seventeenth Century, Journal of World History, 14(2), 131–177
3.Eltis, David (2001), The Volume and Structure of the Transatlantic Slave Trade: A Reassessment, The William and Mary Quarterly, 58(1), 17–46
4.Richardson, David (2001), Shipboard Revolts, African Authority, and the Atlantic Slave Trade, The William and Mary Quarterly, 58(1, 69–92
5.Mason, Matthew (2009), Keeping up Appearances: The International Politics of Slave Trade Abolition in the Nineteenth-Century Atlantic World, The William and Mary Quarterly, 66(4), 809–832
6.Whyte, Christine (2015), “Freedom But Nothing Else”: The Legacies of Slavery and Abolition in Post-Slavery Sierra Leone, 1928–1956, The International Journal of African Historical Studies, 48(2), 231–250
7.Lecocq, Baz & Hahonou, Éric Komlavi (2015, Introduction: Exploring Post-Slavery in Contemporary Africa, The International Journal of African Historical Studies, 48(2), 181–192
8.M’bayo, Tamba E. (2004, W.E.B. Du Bois, Marcus Garvey, and Pan-Africanism in Liberia, 1919–1924, The Historian, 66(1), 19–44
9.Shepperson, George (1962), Pan-Africanism and “Pan-Africanism”: Some Historical Notes, Phylon, 23(4), 346–358
10.Blyden, Nemata A. (2004), “Back to Africa:” The Migration of New World Blacks to Sierra Leone and Liberia, OAH Magazine of History, 18(3), 23–25
11.Edozie, Rita K. (2012), The Sixth Zone: The African Diaspora and the African Union’s Global Era Pan-Africanism, Journal of African American Studies, 16(2), 268–299