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Rachel Ama Asaa Engmann, Associate Professor of Archaeology and Anthropology, The Africa Institute shared her research titled, “Slave Traders in the Family: Autoarchaeology at Christiansborg Castle (Ghana)” on February 28, 2023, as part of The Africa Institute’s Seminar Series.
Located in Accra, Ghana’s capital, the Christiansborg Castle also referred to as ‘Osu Castle’ or ‘The Castle’, used to be a former seventeenth-century trading post and a Danish and British seat of colonial government administration. Today, it is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and also houses the President’s Office of the Republic of Ghana.
Professor Engmann is the first researcher who has been granted access to the castle to conduct the first archaeological excavation of the site. She undertakes this project embracing two identities: one as a Ghanaian archaeologist and the second as a direct descendant of Carl Gustav Engmann, a Danish Governor at Christiansborg Castle (1752–1757). In doing so, she produces the term ‘autoarchaeology’, an experiential, work-in-progress approach to heritage work.
“Autoarchaeology is a term I’ve created that is a conceptual framework where the subject positions of researcher, practitioner, and direct descendant are held by the same person. It foregrounds the self,” said Professor Engmann, who is also the Director of the Christiansborg Archaeological Heritage Project (CAHP) in Ghana.
In her talk, she shares the inspiration of how she came to use the term, ‘autoarchaeology’, with reference to autobiographical notes, followed by a brief discussion of autoarchaeology’s archaeological and anthropological inspirations. Engmann also outlines a brief history of the Christiansborg Castle and of the archaeology conducted at the site. She also reflects on the autoarchaeology as it emerged during fieldwork experiences at the castle, and comments on whether it can support efforts to decolonize the field.
“I use ‘autoarchaeology’ at Christiansborg Castle as an attempt to decolonize archaeological heritage conversations. As such, autoarchaeological sensibilities excavate multiple layers, namely: the politics of knowledge production, historiographical traditions, historical inquiry, colonial realities, and postcolonial legacies. My use of the term takes inspiration from modes of practice often referred to as a public, community, and indigenous archaeology, as well as autoethnography,” said Professor Engmann.
She further explains that in autoethnography, a researcher reflexively explores personal experiences, in order to understand broader social, cultural, and political meanings.
The project prioritizes the direct descendants’ narratives, as well as the histories they reconstruct. Professor Engmann’s argument constitutes a new epistemological direction by privileging direct descendants of slave traders as knowledge producers, impacting and providing nuance to understandings of key historical moments and legacies. She also argues, it stands committed to the politics of inclusion and recognition, as well as active community engagement with the past, and in so doing, comprises a more ethical, democratic, inclusive, and social justice means to decolonize the study of the material past.
“Autoarchaeology in a specifically archaeological context represents a self-conscious, reflexive process and product, one that explicitly recognizes a heritage site’s direct descendants as knowledge producers, whilst simultaneously underscoring the many, intricate, contingent narratives and counter-narratives that surround knowledge production. It is heritage practice for, with, and by direct descendant communities, and is concerned with access to heritage, the questions asked, and the knowledge produced, as well as the way it is preserved, conserved, and managed,” she said.
As a critical heritage scholar and practitioner, Professor Engmann is the first female Ghanaian archaeologist with a long-standing academic and professional involvement in Ghana’s heritage. She has a BA, two MA’s and a PhD from Columbia and Stanford Universities respectively and has completed a postdoctoral fellowship at Brown University. She is the only archaeologist to graduate from Stanford University Business School’s Innovation and Social Enterprise Program where she used archaeology and heritage for African education and development.
Engmann’s research includes West African Islam, the transatlantic slave trade and slavery, colonialism, and critical heritage studies. She has worked in Ghana since 2001. Since 2004, she has worked on many heritage and development projects in Ghana and other African countries, including working for UNESCO (Paris & Accra). She has received multiple interdisciplinary fellowships, grants and prizes from the United States, European and African countries, including governmental, international foundations and research institutes. She is currently on the African scholars’ advisory board for UNESCO’s African World Heritage Sites, Palgrave Macmillan’s Heritage Studies in the Muslim World, Brepol’s Studies in the Archaeology of the Islamic World, 100 Histories of 100 Worlds, and Conservation and Management of Archaeological Sites.
Her publications include articles that have appeared in a number of journals including: African Art, African Archaeological Review, Review of Middle East Studies, African Studies Review, Cambridge Archaeological Journal, Journal of Community Archaeology and Heritage, Heritage Tourism, Africa, Journal of African Diaspora Archaeology and Heritage, Material Religion, Ghana Studies Journal, Post-Medieval Archaeology, Journal of Contemporary Archaeology, African Studies Quarterly, Society for Clay Pipe Research, Journal of Architectural Historians, and the UNESCO Annual Report. She has several published book chapters and two forthcoming books, on architecture, slavery and heritage and West African manuscript heritage. She also has three forthcoming books for a popular audience on Ghanaian heritage.
The seminar was moderated by John Thabiti Willis, Associate Professor of African History, The Africa Institute.
Through these lectures and workshops, The Africa Institute reaffirms its mission as a center for the study and research of Africa and its diaspora, and its commitment to the training of a new generation of critical thinkers in African and African Diaspora studies.
Rachel Ama Asaa Engmann, Associate Professor of Archaeology and Anthropology, The Africa Institute shared her research titled, “Slave Traders in the Family: Autoarchaeology at Christiansborg Castle (Ghana)” on February 28, 2023, as part of The Africa Institute’s Seminar Series.
Rachel Ama Asaa Engmann, Associate Professor of Archaeology and Anthropology, The Africa Institute shared her research titled, “Slave Traders in the Family: Autoarchaeology at Christiansborg Castle (Ghana)” on February 28, 2023, as part of The Africa Institute’s Seminar Series.
Located in Accra, Ghana’s capital, the Christiansborg Castle also referred to as ‘Osu Castle’ or ‘The Castle’, used to be a former seventeenth-century trading post and a Danish and British seat of colonial government administration. Today, it is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and also houses the President’s Office of the Republic of Ghana.
Professor Engmann is the first researcher who has been granted access to the castle to conduct the first archaeological excavation of the site. She undertakes this project embracing two identities: one as a Ghanaian archaeologist and the second as a direct descendant of Carl Gustav Engmann, a Danish Governor at Christiansborg Castle (1752–1757). In doing so, she produces the term ‘autoarchaeology’, an experiential, work-in-progress approach to heritage work.
“Autoarchaeology is a term I’ve created that is a conceptual framework where the subject positions of researcher, practitioner, and direct descendant are held by the same person. It foregrounds the self,” said Professor Engmann, who is also the Director of the Christiansborg Archaeological Heritage Project (CAHP) in Ghana.
In her talk, she shares the inspiration of how she came to use the term, ‘autoarchaeology’, with reference to autobiographical notes, followed by a brief discussion of autoarchaeology’s archaeological and anthropological inspirations. Engmann also outlines a brief history of the Christiansborg Castle and of the archaeology conducted at the site. She also reflects on the autoarchaeology as it emerged during fieldwork experiences at the castle, and comments on whether it can support efforts to decolonize the field.
“I use ‘autoarchaeology’ at Christiansborg Castle as an attempt to decolonize archaeological heritage conversations. As such, autoarchaeological sensibilities excavate multiple layers, namely: the politics of knowledge production, historiographical traditions, historical inquiry, colonial realities, and postcolonial legacies. My use of the term takes inspiration from modes of practice often referred to as a public, community, and indigenous archaeology, as well as autoethnography,” said Professor Engmann.
She further explains that in autoethnography, a researcher reflexively explores personal experiences, in order to understand broader social, cultural, and political meanings.
The project prioritizes the direct descendants’ narratives, as well as the histories they reconstruct. Professor Engmann’s argument constitutes a new epistemological direction by privileging direct descendants of slave traders as knowledge producers, impacting and providing nuance to understandings of key historical moments and legacies. She also argues, it stands committed to the politics of inclusion and recognition, as well as active community engagement with the past, and in so doing, comprises a more ethical, democratic, inclusive, and social justice means to decolonize the study of the material past.
“Autoarchaeology in a specifically archaeological context represents a self-conscious, reflexive process and product, one that explicitly recognizes a heritage site’s direct descendants as knowledge producers, whilst simultaneously underscoring the many, intricate, contingent narratives and counter-narratives that surround knowledge production. It is heritage practice for, with, and by direct descendant communities, and is concerned with access to heritage, the questions asked, and the knowledge produced, as well as the way it is preserved, conserved, and managed,” she said.
As a critical heritage scholar and practitioner, Professor Engmann is the first female Ghanaian archaeologist with a long-standing academic and professional involvement in Ghana’s heritage. She has a BA, two MA’s and a PhD from Columbia and Stanford Universities respectively and has completed a postdoctoral fellowship at Brown University. She is the only archaeologist to graduate from Stanford University Business School’s Innovation and Social Enterprise Program where she used archaeology and heritage for African education and development.
Engmann’s research includes West African Islam, the transatlantic slave trade and slavery, colonialism, and critical heritage studies. She has worked in Ghana since 2001. Since 2004, she has worked on many heritage and development projects in Ghana and other African countries, including working for UNESCO (Paris & Accra). She has received multiple interdisciplinary fellowships, grants and prizes from the United States, European and African countries, including governmental, international foundations and research institutes. She is currently on the African scholars’ advisory board for UNESCO’s African World Heritage Sites, Palgrave Macmillan’s Heritage Studies in the Muslim World, Brepol’s Studies in the Archaeology of the Islamic World, 100 Histories of 100 Worlds, and Conservation and Management of Archaeological Sites.
Her publications include articles that have appeared in a number of journals including: African Art, African Archaeological Review, Review of Middle East Studies, African Studies Review, Cambridge Archaeological Journal, Journal of Community Archaeology and Heritage, Heritage Tourism, Africa, Journal of African Diaspora Archaeology and Heritage, Material Religion, Ghana Studies Journal, Post-Medieval Archaeology, Journal of Contemporary Archaeology, African Studies Quarterly, Society for Clay Pipe Research, Journal of Architectural Historians, and the UNESCO Annual Report. She has several published book chapters and two forthcoming books, on architecture, slavery and heritage and West African manuscript heritage. She also has three forthcoming books for a popular audience on Ghanaian heritage.
The seminar was moderated by John Thabiti Willis, Associate Professor of African History, The Africa Institute.
Through these lectures and workshops, The Africa Institute reaffirms its mission as a center for the study and research of Africa and its diaspora, and its commitment to the training of a new generation of critical thinkers in African and African Diaspora studies.
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