Rachel Ama Asaa Engmann

Christiansborg Archaeological Heritage Project

11/07/2021 - 12/31/2021

Rachel Ama Asaa Engmann is a critical heritage scholar, practitioner, and direct descendant, and currently serves as Associated Professor and Director of the Christiansborg Archaeological Heritage Project. Her research includes the history and afterlives of the transatlantic slave trade, slavery, and colonialism. She is particularly interested in decolonizing approaches to heritage praxis. She is currently working on ongoing excavations of Christiansborg Castle in Ghana. The Castle is a UNESCO World Heritage site, former trading post, seat of Danish and British colonial governments, and Office of the President of Ghana. As the direct descendant of Carl Gustav Engmann, a Danish Governor at Christiansborg Castle;(1752-57), and Ashiokai, his Ga wife, Engmann collaborates with other direct descendants of Euroafrican slave traders; hence she calls this work "autoarchaeology." At the Clark, she will work on a book to accompany an upcoming exhibition based on the excavated artifact collection, co-curated and co-authored with Jennifer Bajorek.