Built Environments of Enslaved Experience in the Caribbean

This symposium examines the varied living environments of the enslaved in the colonial Caribbean. Archaeological investigations of domestic architecture and artifacts illuminate the nature of household organization, fundamental changes in settlement patterns, and the manner in which power was invariably linked with the material arrangements of space among the enslaved at a variety of sites throughout the region, including plantations, fortifications, and urban contexts. While research in the region has provided a considerable amount of data at the household-level, much of this work is biased towards artifact analysis, resulting in unfamiliarity with the considerations that went into constructing and inhabiting households. Papers within this symposium will provide detailed reconstruction of the living environments of the enslaved and will take into account the cultural behaviors and social arrangements that shaped these spaces. It brings together case studies of Caribbean slave settlements as a means of exposing the diversity of people and practices in these settings.