I am a PhD student at the Bonn Center for Dependency and Slavery Studies. My research explores representations of slavery, asymmetrical dependency and freedom in the life-writings of Nineteenth Century Recaptured West Africans. Through this study, I provide fresh insights into the genre of the ‘slave narrative’ which has so far primarily been explored from the perspective of African-American enslaved persons while silence remains on those West African captives who despite remaining in Africa, were displaced within the continent.