Global Archaeologies of the Long Emancipation

This collection contains the abstracts of the papers presented in the session entitled "Global Archaeologies of the Long Emancipation," at the 2023 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.

As archaeologies of the African Diaspora continue to expand in scale and scope, studies beyond the United States continue to push the boundaries of how race, slavery, resistance, and freedom were made and experienced across the globe. Taking inspiration from Barbadian philosopher Rinaldo Walcott’s notion of the long emancipation, whereby Black life finds resiliency in the wake of slavery and ongoing struggles for freedom, this session will feature archaeological case studies related to underrepresented contexts of multiple African Diasporas. The session offers new chapters to archaeologies of the Diaspora from Africa, the Caribbean, and Latin America, prioritizing collaborative models that foster sustainable archaeological practices and goals related to restorative justice. Building on recent frameworks for an antiracist archaeology, presenters in this session explore the complex tensions that surround slavery and freedom from past to present, suggesting how collaborative archaeology can contribute to ongoing struggles related to the long emancipation.