Historical Archaeology in Africa Representation, Social Memory, and Oral Traditions

by Schmidt, Peter R.

• ISBN13: 9780759109643
• ISBN10: 0759109648
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2006-08-11
• Publisher: AltaMira Press

Summary

Historical Archaeology in Africa is an inquiry into the questions that count, proposing different ways of thinking about historical archaeology. Peter Schmidt challenges readers to expand their horizons beyond the ethnocentrism of archaeology, as it is defined and practiced in North America. Confronting topics of oral traditions, our orientation to archaeology, and the misrepresentation of various cultures, Schmidt calls for a new pathway to an enriched, more nuanced, and more inclusive historical archaeology.

Author Biography

Peter R. Schmidt is professor of anthropology at the University of Florida

Table of Contents

List of Figures	vii
Preface	ix
I Issues of Representation, Social Memory, and Oral Traditions
1 Questions That Count: Africa and Beyond	3	(13)
2 Oral Traditions and Archaeology: First Perspectives	16	(29)
3 Critical Historical Archaeologies and Historical Representations with Jonathan Walz	45	(26)
4 Social Memory, Mnemonics, and Historical Archaeology	71	(28)
5 Tropes, Space, and Historical Archaeology	99	(32)
6 Moving Historical Archaeology to Symbolic Space	131	(36)
II Historical Archaeology and Representations
7 Historical Archaeology and Representations of Iron Technology in Africa	167	(28)
8 The Politics of History Making and Historical Representation of Indigenous Production	195	(30)
9 Historical Representations of the Cwezi "Dynasty": How Oral Traditions and Historical Archaeology Came to Support a Historical "House of Cards"	225	(21)
10 The Cwezi Myth of Statehood: Its Resurrection and Demise with kharyssa rhodes	246	(13)
11 Foreigners or Endogenous Development in the Horn of Africa? New Representations from Historical Archaeology	259	(26)
Bibliography	285	(24)
Index	309	(6)
About the Author	315