A collaborative bioarchaeology of African diaspora and enslavement in colonia Cañete, Peru
Abstract/Contents
- Abstract
- In 2009, the Peruvian government apologized to its citizens of African descent for the exclusion enacted against them from the colonial period to the present. While this gesture initiated a long-awaited process of addressing the history of enslavement and its lasting impacts for Afro-descendant communities, it has yet to be translated into meaningful reform. Afro-Peruvian histories—including histories of captivity, exploitation, and racialized violence—continue to be largely absent in academic curricula and public discourse. Such silencing has direct implications on contemporary sociopolitics in Peru, as Afro-Peruvian communities continue to face structural inequalities and marginalization in their everyday lives. This dissertation addresses these issues by considering how community-engaged archaeology can serve as both a tool to cultivate a closer understanding of histories of African enslavement in Peru, and a space where descendant communities can pursue a politics of belonging in contemporary scholarship and heritage discourse. As a case study, it focuses on research at Hacienda La Quebrada (1741-1849), a historic sugar plantation in the central coastal valley of Cañete, Peru. Through bioarchaeological, historical, and ethnographic work at the former plantation and in the communities that live around the site today, this project asks: What were the everyday conditions of living for enslaved Africans and Afro-descendants at La Quebrada, and how did these conditions shape their overall life-histories? How do members of the local descendant community and other Afro-Peruvian stakeholders in the region remember and relate to these histories? Finally, how can the findings of interdisciplinary archaeological research contribute to efforts to revalorize African diaspora histories and cultural heritage in Cañete today? By addressing these questions, this dissertation demonstrates how community-engaged archaeology can work to confront the subalternization of African descendant communities in hegemonic narratives of history, heritage, and national identity. Its collaborative approach to studying the lived experiences of enslavement shows how archaeology can critically address histories of colonial violence while simultaneously reinforcing empowering narratives that foreground the contributions of African descended peoples to Peruvian society and culture. At the same time, by empowering communities to study and retell their pasts in accordance with their own worldviews, and by working together to commemorate these histories through public heritage work, this project ultimately contributes to larger efforts for recognition, inclusivity, and the pursuit of community rights in Peruvian archaeology.
Description
| Type of resource | text |
|---|---|
| Form | electronic resource; remote; computer; online resource |
| Extent | 1 online resource. |
| Place | California |
| Place | [Stanford, California] |
| Publisher | [Stanford University] |
| Copyright date | 2021; ©2021 |
| Publication date | 2021; 2021 |
| Issuance | monographic |
| Language | English |
Creators/Contributors
| Author | Maass, Claire Kimberly |
|---|---|
| Degree supervisor | Voss, Barbara L, 1967- |
| Thesis advisor | Voss, Barbara L, 1967- |
| Thesis advisor | Bauer, A. J. (Andrew Joseph), 1984- |
| Thesis advisor | Hodder, Ian |
| Thesis advisor | Rick, John W |
| Thesis advisor | Tung, Tiffiny A |
| Degree committee member | Bauer, A. J. (Andrew Joseph), 1984- |
| Degree committee member | Hodder, Ian |
| Degree committee member | Rick, John W |
| Degree committee member | Tung, Tiffiny A |
| Associated with | Stanford University, Department of Anthropology |
Subjects
| Genre | Theses |
|---|---|
| Genre | Text |
Bibliographic information
| Statement of responsibility | Claire K. Maass. |
|---|---|
| Note | Submitted to the Department of Anthropology. |
| Thesis | Thesis Ph.D. Stanford University 2021. |
| Location | https://purl.stanford.edu/px127xy4153 |
Access conditions
- Copyright
- © 2021 by Claire Kimberly Maass
- License
- This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial 3.0 Unported license (CC BY-NC).
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