Autoarchaeology at Christiansborg Castle (Ghana): Decolonizing knowledge, pedagogy, and practice

ABSTRACT

In the African postcolony, archaeological research and fieldwork engage with a variety of communities of connection. Therefore, a decolonizing archaeological heritage inquiry seeks a deeper engagement with an archaeological site’s living direct descendant constituencies. Privileging Danish-Ga direct descendant communities in a collaborative archaeological heritage project at Christiansborg Castle in Osu, Accra, Ghana, this essay introduces the experimental, work-in-progress approach I term ‘autoarchaeology’. This is an analytical approach whereby the roles and subject positions of researcher, practitioner, and descendant are held by the same person, and foreground the Self. Autoarchaeology excavates multiple layers, namely: the politics of knowledge production, historiographical traditions, historical inquiry, colonial realities, and postcolonial legacies. Autoarchaeology at the castle attempts to challenge current dominant Western archaeological heritage orthodoxy concerning the study, use, and management of the past, and in so doing, offer possibilities for a decolonizing practice.

KEYWORDS:

• Autoarchaeology
• decolonizing
• knowledge
• transatlantic slave trade
• Ghana
• Christiansborg Castle

Acknowledgements

I extend special thanks to His Excellencies, the Presidents of Ghana: President Flt Lt. John Jerry Rawlings, President John Agyekum Kufour, President John Atta Mills, President John Dramani Mahama and President Nana Addo Akufo-Addo. My gratitude also goes to Nii Okwei Kinka Dowuona VI, Nii Bonne V, Nii Dzamlodza VI, Nii Kwashie Aniefi V, Nii Ako Nortei IV, Aawon Klotey, Aawon Opobi, Naa Ashorkor Obaniehi I, Theophilus Ollennu Chuasam, Nii Kwabena Bonnie IV, Saban Atsen, Nii Sorgla and Earl Teddy Nartey, and the Osu Traditional Council. I owe thanks to Dr. Raymond Atuguba, Col. Mark Alo, Julius Debrah, Yaw Donkor, Prosper Dzakobo, Col. Mantey, Gen. Larry Gbevlo-Lartey, Ayiku Wilson, Nana Asante Bediatuo, Akosua Frema Osei-Opare, Samuel Abu Jinapor and Col. Michael Opoku. Thank you to Dr. Hon Zanetor Agyeman-Rawlings. My thanks to the people who requested anonymity. Thanks are also due to Raymond Agbo, Gideon Agyare, Kofi Amekudi, George Anorchie, William Barnor, Ernest Fiador, Daniel Kumah, Edward Nyarko and Samuel Nobah. Thanks of course, to the entire team. My deepest appreciation goes to the people of Osu. This research was possible thanks to generous grants and awards from the Stanford Archaeology Center, Stanford Anthropology Department, Joukowsky Institute, Whiting Foundation, Rappaport Foundation, Martha Joukowsky Foundation, Wenner-Gren Foundation. Thanks are due to the Danish Maritime Museum, Danish Royal Library, Danish National Archives, and British National Archives for their support. Many thanks to Suzie Thomas and Carol McDavid for their patience, feedback, and advice on this essay. My thanks also to Lynn Meskell, Ian Hodder, Barbaro Martinéz-Ruiz, Martin Hall, Beverly Stoeltjie, Akinwumi Ogundiran and Rodney Harrison for their continuous support and encouragement.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes on Contributor

Rachel A. A. Engmann is an Assistant Professor in Critical Social Inquiry at Hampshire College (USA). Her research and teaching interests include the historical and contemporary forms of the African experience, such as archaeological ethnography, critical heritage, material culture, museums, West African Islam, transatlantic slave trade, and colonial photography.

Notes

1. I thank Lynn Meskell for discussions and suggestion of the term autoarchaeology for my approach. I thank Carol McDavid and Suzie Thomas for helping me to refine these ideas.

2. https://christiansborgarchaeologicalheritageproject.org/ and #ChristiansborgP.

3. The castle was also occupied by the Dutch (1660–1661), sold to the Portuguese (1679–1683), captured by the Akwamus (1683–1684), and remortgaged to the British (1685–1689).

4. Subsequent to the Danish abolition of the transatlantic slave trade and the establishment of plantations on the coast, many continued to own enslaved Africans, in their homes and on plantations.