Diasporic Connections: Ghana 60 Years After

Ghana’s independence in 1957, was an important beginning for the wave of independent countries across Africa and the African Diaspora. To mark this 60th anniversary, and to tie in with UNESCO’s declaration of the Decade for People of African Descent, this series included interrelated events spread over the year. The program began with a kick off event on March 7th 2017, and will conclude on May 19, 2018, with an event that welcomes the canoe to the OBA-Bijlmerplein and Imagine IC.

Throughout the year, the RCMC organized depot/collections visits at Tropenmuseum for people of African descent especially those who feel connected to our Ghanaian collections. These visits included conversations around the question: Our Ghana collections, why do they matter?

On December 14th, the RCMC and Imagine IC organized a talk about a Fanti-canoe stored in one of the Tropenmuseum depots, and the possibilties for it to be exhibited at the Imagine IC ‘huis’ in their Bijlmerplein location in South-East Amsterdam. There is a huge Ghanaian community in South-East Amsterdam which makes the Imagine IC location an interesting place to showcase the object and thereby give it new purpose. How can the museum share the collection and bring this ‘back’ to a community that shares interest and heritage with it? Could we revisit and rethink the ways in which we collect and store objects? The Ghana Thuis discussion was moderated by Ghanaian-Dutch rapper, actor, spoken-word artist and host, Akwasi.