Just a quick response to Richard Lobban in particular (I really do
hope to organize a conference on this issue and will inform you all
when a I get a bit closer to it). I think Curtin's intervention and
the following discussion raise two fundamental questions about how we
"remember" the slave trade (none of which involve denying it ever
happened or was on a very large scale):
a) to what extent should we insist upon (or forego) "objective"
i.e. carefully documented modes of historical discourse in the
case of such an explosive topic, one which still marks much of
our daily life today?
b) (here is the more relevant comparison with the Jewish
Holocaust) how much attetnion should be given to this issue in
defining African identity on the Continent and in the Diaspora?