UMass Boston

Course Overview

Description

This seminar is an introduction to African Diaspora archaeology, a growing area of study within history and anthropology. Students will explore how archaeologists have investigated physical and cultural landscapes, food ways, ritual and religion, and consumption to reveal the ways that African-descended people responded to slavery as well as racial oppression. Students will trace the trajectory of African Diaspora archaeology from its early studies of plantations to the field's current emphasis on understanding racism and processes of racial formation. Students will assess the significance of the field to yielding alternate interpretations of the Black past as well as its potential for uniting scholarship and political activism to challenge contemporary manifestations of injustice.