No questions for the Blacks: Accounting for the languor of Afro-Panamanian Historical Archaeology

Summary

The archaeology of slavery is, undoubtedly, one of the strongest and most dynamic pillars of North American historical archaeology. African-American archaeology, in particular, has played a central part in the understanding and memorializing the multiple dimensions of the racially-based oppression upon which European colonial projects were constructed in the New World. While the contribution of enslaved Africans and free Blacks to the formation of Latin American societies has been amply documented in historiographical and anthropological studies, the potential of archaeology as a source of social and political empowerment for local Afro-descendant communities still seems under-recognized in most Latin American countries. In this paper, we build on an analysis of the development of Panamanian historical archaeologies in recent years in order to address some of the reasons which may account for the slow expansion of the archaeology of African heritage at the Latin American level.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Las preguntas que cuentan: Ideas and interpretations in Latin American Historical Archaeology   •
• Society for Historical Archaeology 2014

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology

Record Identifiers

PaperId(s): SYM-33,06