An Archaeology of Return?: African Diaspora Heritage in the Wake of the Slave Trade

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Activating Heritage: Encouraging Substantive Practices for a Just Future" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Analytical vectors of the African Diaspora have traditionally run east-to-west, charting the journeys of captive Africans from Sub-Saharan homelands to spaces and systems of racial violence in the Americas. Historical archaeology continues to shed light on the realities of such experiences across the spectrum of oblivion and resistance, though displacements and diasporas that navigate different currents across the Atlantic remain underexplored. In this paper, I draw from sites of ongoing research in Liberia and Barbados to suggest not new mappings of the African Diaspora, but new imaginings, journeys, and emancipatory projects to suggest what an archaeology of return might look like. Beyond the vectors of movement for people and things, I argue that an archaeology of return must be a project of heritage and racial justice.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Activating Heritage: Encouraging Substantive Practices for a Just Future   •
• Society for American Archaeology 89th Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA (2024)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 41733.0