Archaeology of Atlantic Africa and the African Diaspora

This is the first book devoted to the archaeology of African life on both sides of the Atlantic; it highlights the importance of archaeology in completing the historical records of the Atlantic world's Africans. Archaeology of Atlantic Africa and the African Diaspora presents a diverse, richly textured picture of Africans' experiences during the era of the Atlantic slave trade and offers the most comprehensive explanation of how African lives became entangled with the creation of the modern world. Through interdisciplinary approaches to material culture, the dynamics of a comparative transatlantic archaeology is developed.

"For those who want to expand their knowledge of African religion, this is an important addition to a growing series of probing studies." --The Journal of African History, Volume 52 - 2011

"[The editors] skilfully articulate the importance of integrating the African Atlantic and the African Diaspora within a single analytical framework... Common to most of these papers is a breadth of vision that encompasses the archaeological record and relevant history, ethnographic and palaeoclimatic data in ways that highlight the complexity of the processes taking place in Atlantic Africa from (indeed, before) the fifteenth century." --Journal of African History Indiana University Press

"A rich perspective on the archaeology of African life in the Atlantic world.... The volume will be widely appreciated by readers wishing to learn about an exciting area of archaeological research." --International Journal of African Historical Studies

"Ogundiran and Falola's collection charts a powerful and ambitious starting point for a truly transatlantic diasporan archaeology." --Historical Archaeology, 2010, 44 (2)

"... an excellent book....This is an important and readable work that represents a milestone in a holistic approach to Africa and its Diasporas in the Atlantic world." -- Indiana University Press

"... this volume is an important contribution to understanding the diverse and global extent of African experiences and cultural transformations, as well as demonstrates the important role of Africa in the creation of the modern world.... all archaeologists and historians working in the Africana world should, not only read this book, but engage the findings presented here in their own work...." --

"Should be required reading for Africanist archaeologists and students of African American and diasporic archaeology.... Highly recommended." --Choice

"[T]he true value of this book perhaps lies in its ability to acquaint very different readerships with a wealth of sources and research with which they may hitherto have been unfamiliar with." --African Studies Quarterly, Volume 12, Issue 1, Fall 2010

"... this book is remarkably successful. It is equally useful for specialists in later African archaeology and for archaeologists of the African Diaspora. Furthermore,... [it] provides an excellent introduction to the state of research on the subject, and is appropriate for anyone wishing to develop an understanding of the big issues in the archaeology of the African Diaspora." --Azania

Akinwumi Ogundiran is Chair of the Africana Studies Department and Professor of Africana Studies, Anthropology and History at the University of North Carolina, Charlotte. He is author of Archaeology and History in the Ilare District, 1200-1900.

Toyin Falola is the Frances Higginbotham Nalle Centennial Professor in History at the University of Texas at Austin. He is editor (with Matt D. Childs) of The Yoruba Diaspora in the Atlantic World (IUP, 2005).

Contents

Preface

Part 1. Introduction

1. Pathways in the Archaeology of Transatlantic Africa Akinwumi Ogundiran and Toyin Falola

Part 2. Atlantic Africa

2. Entangled Lives: The Archaeology of Daily Life in the Gold Coast Hinterlands, AD 1400-1900 Ann Brower Stahl

3. Living in the Shadow of the Atlantic World: History and Material Life in a Yoruba-Edo Hinterland, ca. 1600-1750 Akinwumi Ogundiran

4. Dahomey and the Atlantic Slave Trade: Archaeology and Political Order on the Bight of Benin J. Cameron Monroe

5. Enslavement in the Middle Senegal Valley: Historical and Archaeological Perspectives Alioune Déme and Ndeye Sokhna Guèye

6. The Landscape and Society of Northern Yorubaland during the Era of the Atlantic Slave Trade Aribidesi Usman

7. The Collapse of Coastal City-States of East Africa Chapurukha M. Kusimba

8. Ghana's "Slave Castles," Tourism, and the Social Memory of the Atlantic Slave Trade Brempong Osei-Tutu

Part 3. African Diaspora

9. BaKongo Identity and Symbolic Representation in the Americas Christopher C. Fennell

10. "In This Here Place": Interpreting Enslaved Homeplaces Whitney L. Battle-Baptiste

11. Bringing the Out Kitchen In? The Experiential Landscapes of Black and White New England Alexandra A. Chan

12. African Metallurgy in the Atlantic World Candice L. Goucher

13. Between Urban and Rural: Organization and Distribution of Local Pottery in Eighteenth-Century Jamaica Mark W. Hauser

14. Allies, Adversaries, and Kin in the African Seminole Communities of Florida: Archaeology at Pilaklikaha Terrance Weik

15. Scars of Brutality: Archaeology of the Maroons in the Caribbean E. Kofi Agorsah

16. The Archaeological Study of the African Diaspora in Brazil Pedro P. Funari

17. The Vanishing People: Archaeology of the African Population in Buenos Aires Daniel Schávelzon

18. Maritime Archaeology and the African Diaspora Fred L. McGhee

19. Archaeology of the African Meeting House on Nantucket Mary C. Beaudry and Ellen P. Berkland

20. Practicing African American Archaeology in the Atlantic World Anna S. Agbe-Davies

References

List of Contributors

Index