Landscapes of Forgetting and the Materiality of Enslavement: Using Class, Ethnicity, and Gender to Search for the Invisible on a Post-Colonial French Houselot in the Illinois Country

Summary

Elizabeth Scott has spent many years working in Francophone settings on subjects connected to identity. She has been especially interested in the social makeup of such communities. In honor of Dr. Scott, I will focus on the materiality of enslavement within a houselot in the French town of Ste. Genevieve, Missouri. Forgetfulness can be a violent act. Modern landscapes and historical narratives of Ste. Genevieve, Missouri similarly reflect a semi-purposeful "forgetfulness" of enslaved individuals within the region. This paper provides a detailed case study of such an instance of "forgetfulness" on an ethnically French houselot in the Middle Mississippi River valley. A comparison between objects found to be associated with class, gender, and ethnicity, from the still-standing Janis house and a demolished outbuilding provide insight into both the decisions made by the French in the design of the property’s space and the materiality of Francophone slavery in the Illinois Country.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• One of Great Note: Honoring the Career of Elizabeth Scott   •
• Society for Historical Archaeology 2017

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Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology

Record Identifiers

PaperId(s): 210