The African Diaspora: Using Media Archaeology to Redefine Diasporic Connection

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2025: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

When thinking of the African Diaspora one cannot deny the themes of resistance, resilience, and justice that seem to unite these very distinct cultures. This project focuses on the African diaspora and interrogates what diaspora means using media archaeology. Media archaeology is defined as a field of study that seeks to understand how change over time occurs through the examination of media and its changing technologies.

For this particular project, I examine how different aesthetics develop across the diaspora and how that may reflect political, environmental, and historical changes over time. I use historical evidence, ecological studies, and media from various periods to understand how different cultures have been segmented and how the definition of diaspora has changed over time.

As I explore a new definition of an archaeological “site” that is rooted in the digital landscape, I will study members of the African diaspora from the Caribbean and the southern United States looking into sites where the cultures are distinct. I examine the American South on behalf of African Americans, Providencia y Santa Catalina, Colombia as a representation of the Caribbean, and sites where these cultures interact and intersect such as Brooklyn, NYC where these cultures coexist and intermingle.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 90th Annual Meeting, Denver, CO (2025)   •
• SAA 2025: Individual Abstracts

Keywords

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 54033