Biography

Rachel’s research and teaching interests includes a wide range of fields, including archaeological ethnography in Ghana, Islamic Material Culture, African Art/Material Culture, Slavery, African Diaspora, Colonial Photography, Public Archaeology, and Cultural Heritage, Museums and Development.

Rachel’s Ph.D. dissertation, Hidden Palimpsests: Unraveling Nineteenth Century Islamic Talismans in Asante, is a study of the relationship between objects, texts, religion and empire.

Her second project, Slavers in the Family: The Archaeology of the Slaver in Eighteenth Century Gold Coast, focuses on Christiansborg Castle in Accra, a 17th century European colonial trading castle exploring slavery, cultural heritage and development.

Rachel continues to work as a consultant for several non-profit organizations working on development in Africa.

Degrees

PhD.  Department of Anthropology, Stanford University

MA.  Department of Anthropology, Stanford University

MA.  Department of Anthropology, Columbia University

BA.  Department of Anthropology, Columbia University