Intersectionality and Plantation Archaeology: Intertwining the Past, Present and Future

Summary

Intersectionality is a useful framework to employ when reconstructing the everyday lives of enslaved individuals during the Antebellum. Often, archaeologists find it difficult to create narratives that connect the material culture of the individuals we excavate with their dynamic experiences, especially impacts of sexual and economic exploitation, human rights and the rule of law. This paper focuses on the overlapping of multiple identities (in this case enslaved and free women and men on the plantation landscape), to better understand racism and sexism in the region. Our community-based project at the modern 18,000-acre Ames Planation near Memphis, TN, focuses on African American lifeways and how the past shapes the present. Through the analysis of the material culture from Fanny Dickins Slave Houses, documentary record (slave censuses and diaries) and engagement with descendant community members, we will explore how 19th century African American women and men created, managed, and navigated oppressive spaces.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for Historical Archaeology 2018   •
• Intersections of Gender, Sexuality, Class, Race, Ethnicity, Age, Religion, the Military, etc.

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Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology

Record Identifiers

PaperId(s): 791