Resilience and Vulnerability of Small African Islands

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Islands around Africa: State-of-the-Art and Future Directions" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

While often forgotten, there are small African islands that played a crucial role in modern history and have often forgotten stories to tell about the impact of colonialism and the diaspora of enslaved and indentured workers. Their role emerged with the emergence of epidemic diseases and the need to manage the health risks involving thousands of people forcibly or voluntarily moved around the continent. This paper highlights some case studies of small islands used as quarantine stations, leper colonies, and prisons between the eighteenth and the twentieth centuries on the east coast of Africa, i.e., the Indian Ocean. In their small size, these sites encapsulate the drastic environmental change undergone by previously uninhabited islands and, archaeologically, are exemplars of the built landscape created by colonizers for sanitary purposes. The history of these sites, though chronologically short, has profoundly marked the experience of thousands of migrants and marginalized communities and played a role in shaping new sea routes and interconnections with the mainland. In addition, some of these sites have recently been reconfigured as nature reserves for some endangered species, questioning our ability to reconcile archaeological research and environmental protection.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Islands around Africa: State-of-the-Art and Future Directions   •
• Society for American Archaeology 89th Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA (2024)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 39888.0