Applications of Black Feminist Theory to Archaeobotanical Analysis: A Case Study of Belle Grove’s Enslaved Quarters

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Advances in Macrobotanical and Microbotanical Archaeobotany" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

The contributions of enslaved African Americans to local formal economies have often gone unrecognized in previous historical and archaeological research; this is especially true concerning the actions of enslaved women. Black Feminist Theory allows researchers to consider the ways that Black women viewed and affected the world around them. This paper analyzes a macrobotanical assemblage recovered from Belle Grove Plantation’s 19th-century enslaved quarters through a Black Feminist lens to explore how the archaeobotanical record can reflect the actions that enslaved women took when producing domestic goods and the ways this production contributed to the overall economy of the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. In addition, this analysis considers the ways participation in the economy granted individuals agency as an avenue towards self-emancipation.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 90th Annual Meeting, Denver, CO (2025)   •
• Advances in Macrobotanical and Microbotanical Archaeobotany

Keywords

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 52318