Museums in Europe and North America are filled with objects from all around the world. The circumstances through which these objects were acquired have made some of these items heavily contested by their countries of origin and those committed to decolonization efforts. The American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) is no different. Founded in 1869, together with the Metropolitan Museum of Art, it serves New York state and the surrounding cities as the two main sources of knowledge about the world’s cultures. Throughout its 152 years, The AMNH collected, interpreted, and displayed many objects from cultures worldwide.

This website is the second part of the capstone project, which takes catalog and analyze the Ashanti collection at the AMNH. In particular, this website will trace how the museum acquired these Ashanti objects. This website also further explores the discussion surrounding repatriation, which was discussed in the paper. Click here for the paper and for the complete list of Asante artifacts catalog for this project click here.

This site was created by Abdul-Alim Farook (MALS Student) at the CUNY Graduate Center. The website was created for a capstone project. All images used on this site were obtained from Creative Commons, The American Museum of Natural History Library, and the author’s personal picture collection. For similar sites on archaeology, click here. Contact me at afarook@gradceneter.cuny.edu for any questions.