Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Afro-Latin Americans Living In Spain And Social Death: Moving From The Empirical To The Ontological, Ethan Johnson, Joy González-Güeto, Vanessa Cadena

Black Studies Faculty Publications and Presentations

This paper has three objectives. First, we establish that although Spain has attempted to distance itself from its role in the sub-saharan African slave trade and the significance blackness plays within its borders, there exists a significant population of people of African descent from Latin America living in Spain. Second, we show Black people are living what Sadiyah Hartmann refers to as the afterlife of slavery in Latin America. We claim it is worthwhile to take into account that Afro-Latin Americans are fleeing to the country that is largely responsible for them being in Latin America and the conditions of …

Black Americans And The South African Anti-Apartheid Campaign In Portland, Oregon, Ethan Johnson

Black Studies Faculty Publications and Presentations

This paper argues that in order to understand the anti-Apartheid campaign in Portland, Oregon it must be located within the particular socio-historical context of race and racism in the city and state. Thus, Black people living in Portland had good reason to compare the Apartheid system in South Africa to their own experience. Therefore, the confluence of national and local issues that move the local anti-Apartheid campaign forward is examined; the paper documents the rise and development of critical organizations in the anti-Apartheid campaign in Portland; the paper focus on the closure of the Honorary South Africa Consulate in downtown …

Tracking Down The Marrons: Archaeo-Geography Of Marronage In The Caribbean, E. Kofi Agorsah

Black Studies Faculty Publications and Presentations

As the Maroons escaped from enslavement into unknown and inaccessible environments, they relied on their mental maps developed through sequential exploration of those environments to establish and defend their settlements. Initially they would take advantage of the knowledge of the areas surrounding the plantations from which they escaped, explore them thoroughly and then, at the appropriate time, link their escape routes and locations to those mental maps that they had acquired. That knowledge would have helped them to develop networks of familiar pathways and landmarks along, and around which, they arranged their settlements. This paper suggests that knowledge of such …

Ethnoarchaeological Consideration Of Social Relationship And Settlement Patterning Among Africans In The Caribbean Diaspora, E. Kofi Agorsah

Black Studies Faculty Publications and Presentations

This paper discusses models of ethnoarchaeology. The crucial consideration should be an orientation towards an explicitly well-defined interface between models drawn from modern traditional behavior and those of the past. This is the main principle which forms the basis of the discussion of this paper. This approach was the obvious choice mainly because of the availability of the type of evidence in Africa and the African disapora that would permit observed continuities with the past. However, ethnoarchaeology should not be considered as an end in itself, but as one of the many tools which can be used to refine our …

Seaman's Valley And Maroon Material Culture In Jamaica, E. Kofi Agorsah

Black Studies Faculty Publications and Presentations

Seaman's Valley site was one of the few known places in Jamaica where the Maroons came into face to face combat with the colonial military in a battle that featured the largest force ever sent against the Maroons. In that encounter the colonial forces were routed in a total defeat resulting in the abandonment of arms and ammunition and personnel. This paper compares the material culture from the Seaman's Valley site and Nanny Town. This paper will then show the significance of the longstanding strategic relationship between the two locations during the Maroon struggle for freedom and even after peace …

Redefining Maroon Heritage In The New World Studies, E. Kofi Agorsah

Black Studies Faculty Publications and Presentations

Evidence from recent archaeological studies appear to suggest a redefinition of the heritage of runaway slave communities, referred to by the name Maroons and other terms. Now properly defined as the pioneer freedom fighters, it is also becoming clear that their heritage is a single constant strand in that of the New World. Contrary to previous views and descriptions which appear to indicate that these communities derived only from African slave escapees, historical and archaeological evidence from the Caribbean, and the Americas now reveal that the heritage of Maroon communities stemmed from the united force forged by between native American …

Archaeology And The Maroon Heritage In Jamaica, E. Kofi Agorsah

Black Studies Faculty Publications and Presentations

Of all the fascinating aspects of Jamaican history, the Maroon Melement appears to be the only one that weaves through the whole period, including the present day. Referring to themselves as 'True blu chankofi piti bo," some Maroons of Moore Town in the parish of Portland claim that, with the exception of the freedom fighters of South Africa, they are the only living genuine and most honourable freedom fighters worthy of the name.

Vibrations Of Maroons And Marronage In Caribbean History And Archaelogy, E. Kofi Agorsah

Black Studies Faculty Publications and Presentations

A discussion of the phenomenon of "resistance" as an important element in the shaping of the History of the New World, and the geographical distribution of Maroon resistance groups in the Caribbean and adjoining areas, introduces this paper. It is contended that historical and ethnographic evidence fail to adequately present the true picture of Maroon culture, considered as a only most important element that brings others together in a coherent way. Using evidence from Jamaica, it is illustrated that filling in the existing gap in our knowledge about Maroons and marronage as well as identification of cultural continuities and discontinuities, …

Before The Flood: The Golden Volta Basin, E. Kofi Agorsah

Black Studies Faculty Publications and Presentations

The Northern Volta basin has engaged the attention of major research projects in the last ten years with greater Intensity than has been known in the history of research in the area. Explanation of the cultural development as well as connections or relationships between ethnic groups, their geographical distribution and settlement patterning, and the nature and mechanism of functional adaptation in the area are issues that appear to have been the main foci of investigation.

Conclusions based on the data available emphasized the northern Volta Basin as an important area for the development of early cultural traditions in that part …

Nanny Town Excavations: Rewriting Jamaica's History?, E. Kofi Agorsah

Black Studies Faculty Publications and Presentations

The main objectives of the study of maroon communities are: to obtain archaeological data that can be used for the interpretation of the socio-cultural patterns of the behavior of the Maroons; to determine the factors that contribute to the location and character of Maroon settlements; and to obtain material for dating and providing a chronological framework for the origins and development of maroon heritage in Jamaica The overall objective is to identify the character and mechanism of the functional adaptation of Maroon societies in Jamaica over time.

Archaeological Considerations On Social Dynamics And Spatial Pattern Development Of Traditional Settlements, E. Kofi Agorsah

Black Studies Faculty Publications and Presentations

One fascinating aspect of archaeological analysis is the explanation of the frequency with which material manifestations of man's behaviour are bonded together. The complexity of the interconnections and associations makes it even more challenging and exciting. Areal variations of the relationships between cultural phenomena are so numerous that archaeologists have, over the centuries, looked for regularities or patterning among distributions of these material manifestations. It is not the patterns that are recognised nor the fact that their distribution varies from place to place that is of greatest interest. Rather it is the past behaviour of the society concerned that is …

Objectivity In The Interpretation Of The Archaeology Of Ghana, E. Kofi Agorsah

Black Studies Faculty Publications and Presentations

One of the desires of the majority of archaeologists is to obtain from their analyses an objective knowledge of the societies they study. However, the mere desire to obtain objectivity does not ensure its attainment especially where biases cannot be controlled. Added to this difficulty of obtaining objectivity is that not only is the subject matter of archaeology vast and varied, but also archaeologists disagree on directions of study and interpretations, and in many cases very few scholars attempt to put themselves at a standpoint from which to measure the inadequacies and unevenness of their interpretations. Fundamental to interpretations in …

Women In African Traditional Politics, E. Kofi Agorsah

Black Studies Faculty Publications and Presentations

This article attempts to trace, by use of archaeological, historical and cultural evidence, certain structural features of African political systems that provide specific roles for women and the significance of these structures for African politics (compare Canham 1949; Badu 1965; Adu 1949; Busia 1951). It will be shown that in some cases the bases for the development of such political structures continue to exist in some African political systems of modern times. Examples from Egypt, Sierra Leone, Ghana, Nigeria and other countries are used in the discussion to emphasize the significance of some of the roles played by women in …

Evidence And Interpretation In The Archaeology Of Jamaica, E. Kofi Agorsah

Black Studies Faculty Publications and Presentations

One of the most challenging statements in the Archaeology of the New World is the one made by James Deetz, an eminent Archaeologist, that: "The personalities of prehistory will remain forever nameless and without faces", (Deetz 1977). Any one with background training in prehistoric Archaeology of the Old ~rid would at first glance at the statement view it with scorn. I was no exception to this reaction. But when I started updating myself on archaeological studies in the Caribbean I started giving the statement a serious thought especially having come across Clinton Black's description of the first Jamaicans as "a …

Current Trends In Method And Theory Of Ethnoarchaeological Research In Africa, E. Kofi Agorsah

Black Studies Faculty Publications and Presentations

In the Social Sciences there is the need to imitate approaches that are based on properly organized theoretical and methodological frameworks. This also applies to ethnoarchaeology. It is from this perspective that this paper views current trends in the ethnoarchaeological enterprise as one that needs to be reviewed in order to give it a scientific touch that will carry it beyond the boundaries of mere accumulation of ethnographic data or the making of half-baked generalizations. Beyond such boundaries and with emphasis on explanation rather than description, the ethnoarchaeological enterprise can be considered systematic.

Time In The African Tradition, E. Kofi Agorsah

Black Studies Faculty Publications and Presentations

The article describes the African concept of time. The African concept of time is one that has never been properly understood by non-Africans. The reason probably lies in the fact that in Africa time becomes tied-in to activities of the season, day or night rather than in terms of a large solar clock or calendar. The African seasons are not thought of as stretching evenly, but rather are considered as periods in a chain of events one gradually culminating into another.

Material Characterisation Of "Kintampo Cigars", E. Kofi Agorsah

Black Studies Faculty Publications and Presentations

This article is about terracotta or clay "cigars" analyzed using X-ray fluorescence and stereo-microscopic analysis of these objects that were found at the Kintampo site.

Patterns Of Spatial Behavior Among The Nchumuru, E. Kofi Agorsah

Black Studies Faculty Publications and Presentations

This article is an ethnoarchaeologial study aimed at discovering rules that might explain the dynamics of spatial distribution of cultural remains of the Nchumuru, a Guang people who, in prehistoric times, inhabited large parts of Ghana and still maintain their traditional social system and subsistence practices.

Spatial Expressions Of Traditional Behavior: An Ethnoarchaeological Study, E. Kofi Agorsah

Black Studies Faculty Publications and Presentations

This report summarizes research undertaken in the settlement of Wiae in the KeteKrachi district of the Volta Region in Ghana, West Africa. It concerns an attempt to use current spatial behavior within the residential area of the modern village to predict spatial behavior at the prehistoric sites.

Mystery Objects Of The Ghanaian Stone Age, E. Kofi Agorsah

Black Studies Faculty Publications and Presentations

The article examines objects recovered from the stone age site at Wenchi in Brong Ahafo made of some type of fine clay which had some element of iron content. It seems some of the objects were baked after having been dried in the sun. The faces were then carefully scored with criss-cross or grid pattern, or single line decorations. A number of uses has been posited, including message sticks, ritual objects, and pottery-making tools, among others.