Benin has long tried to highlight its role in the transatlantic slave trade through monuments and memorials in the country, in the hope it would attract tourism.

Now it has a new plan.

It is offering citizenship to descendants of enslaved Africans around the world.

US singers Lauryn Hill and Ciara received their citizenship in July. Filmmaker Spike Lee and his wife Tonya Lewis Lee have also been made Benin’s ambassadors to the African-American population in America.

The move is an attempt to attract talent and money to its shores and showcase the nation’s culture and traditions to a wider audience.

This week on The Inquiry we’re asking: Can Benin win back its diaspora?

Contributors: Dr Bayo Holsey, Association Professor, African American Studies and Anthropology at Emory University, United States Ana Lucia Araujo, Professor in the Department of History at Howard University, United States Dr Leonard Wantchekon, Founder and President of the African School of Economics Tonya Lewis Lee, filmmaker and entrepreneur

Presenter: Tanya Beckett Producer: Daniel Rosney Researcher: Maeve Schaffer Technical producer: Nicky Edwards Production Co-ordinator: Hattie Valentine Editor: Tom Bigwood

(Photo: Ciara receiving citizenship of Benin. Credit: Government of Benin)

Matthew Wells

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