African Enslaved Women: A Gendered Perspective of Maritime Archaeology

Summary

This is an abstract from the session entitled "Maritime Archeology of the Slave Trade: Past and Present Work, and Future Prospects", at the 2023 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.

The relationships cultivated by African enslaved women resulted in dissemination of new ethnic identities and social structures, which can be traced in the maritime archaeological record. Sources including artwork and ethno-historical accounts of enslaved women and their children demonstrate the expansive and transformative impact of their movement from western Europe to areas of the Caribbean. This paper examines the historical narratives and archaeological findings of African enslaved women from 1700 -1886, to lend to the holistic identity of the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade. By examining gendered artifacts and comparing them to historic travel logs, investigations of the role these women lent on history can be cultivated through maritime and archaeological lenses. Using the modern resources and statistical analysis of the Slave Voyages and Slave Wrecks Projects, can provide an understanding of the underrepresented gendered perspective of female slaves and ways in which African enslaved women impacted both global archaeology and history.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Maritime Archeology of the Slave Trade: Past and Present Work, and Future Prospects   •
• Society for Historical Archaeology 2023

Keywords

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Nicole Haddow