Negotiating And Creating Tension And Change Through Religion, Mortuary Practices, and Burial Sites Within African-Descent And Moravian Communities In The Caribbean

Summary

Historical archaeologies of the African diaspora in the Caribbean have recently expanded on analyses of relationships between religion, mortuary practices, burial sites, and varied environmental, social, economic, and cultural contexts. In addition, studies currently investigate the politics of death and burial, including who controlled mortuary spaces, at what times, by which means, and for what purposes. Finally, research collaborations analyze community formation and activity through the lens of past and present mortuary practices. In light of these research areas, this paper interprets material and documentary evidence to understand how past and present peoples, including enslaved people of African descent, Moravian missionaries, and descendant communities, have used religion, burial sites, and mortuary practices to negotiate and create tension, an important vehicle for change, in life and death across islands in the British and former Danish West Indies (now the U.S. Virgin Islands). 

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for Historical Archaeology 2018   •
• Religious Communities, Religious Landscapes

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Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology

Record Identifiers

PaperId(s): 781