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Re-Representing African Pasts through Historical Archaeology

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Peter R. Schmidt  and
Jonathan R. Walz
Peter R. Schmidt
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, PO Box 117305, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611 ([email protected]) ([email protected])
Jonathan R. Walz
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, PO Box 117305, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611 ([email protected]) ([email protected])
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Abstract

Historical archaeology in Africa has long privileged issues framed in terms of European sources and the impact of imperialism and colonialism on African peoples. With its emphasis on modernity, historical archaeology of this persuasion overlooks historical archaeologies concerned with revising metanarratives that misrepresent African pasts. We argue that historical archaeologists need to listen to local histories, often held in oral form, and that the appropriate task of historical archaeology is making histories that include, not exclude, local historicities. A critical historical archaeology in Africa is illustrated by cases in which oral traditions play a central role in unveiling the historical significance of archaeological remains as well as circumstances in which careful readings of archaeology and local histories subvert standard histories based on outsiders' interpretations and observations. We draw case studies from the Swahili Coast, Great Zimbabwe, the Kalahari, and the Cwezi period of the Great Lakes. Our approach accepts that if archaeologists employ materiality—regardless of its chronological age—to transform historical representation, then such historical revision creates a more comprehensive practice for historical archaeology, a matter of vital interest for both history and anthropology.

Résumé

Résumé

Hace tiempo que la arqueología histórica de Africa hace hincapié sobre fuentes europeas y sobre el impacto del imperialismo y del colonialismo sobre los pueblos africanos. Con tal enfoque sobre la modernidad, este género de arqueología histórica corre el riesgo de pasar por alto otros géneros de investigación orientada hacia la corrección de representaciones tergiversadas del pasado africano. El presente artículo sostiene que les incumbe a los arqueólogos escuchar historias locales, incluyendo las orales, y que el papel de la arqueología histórica es el de crear historias que incluyan, no excluyan, versiones históricas locales. Damos un ejemplo de tal arqueología histórica crítica mediante el examen de casos en los cuales las tradiciones orales juegan un papel central en el descubrimiento del significado histórico de los restos arqueológicos. Damos ejemplos también de la manera en que la interpretacion cuidadosa de la arqueología y de las historias locales puede corregir las historias convencionales basadas en las interpretaciones y observaciones hechas por forasteros. Se utilizan estudios de caso de la Costa Swahili, de Zimbabwe Mayor, de Kalahari, y del período Cwezi de los Grandes Lagos. Este enfoque parte de la premisa de que los materiales arqueológicos, no importa su edad cronológica, pueden emplearse para la transformación de la representación histórica, y que tal reinterpretación histórica permite más amplitud en la práctica de la arqueología histórical. Tal logro conviene tanto a la historiografia como a la antropologia.

Type
Articles
Information
American Antiquity , Volume 72 , Issue 1 , January 2007 , pp. 53 - 70
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for American Archaeology 2007

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