Race and the Archaeology of Identity

[Also Available in Paper]

Edited by Charles E. Orser Jr.

25 Illustrations
Cloth $55.00
ISBN 978-0-87480-693-9
Archaeology / Anthropology

Foundations of Archaeological Inquiry
James M. Skibo, series editor

Race is not a subject most people associate with archaeological research. Yet because of archaeologists’ interest in long time-spans they are perfectly positioned to investigate the “naturalness” of racial designations through time.

Race and the Archaeology of Identity brings together twelve of America’s most perceptive and talented historical archaeologists. Their focus is on the recent archaeological record—stretching geographically from Jamaica to northern Michigan; their time frame is from colonial days to the late nineteenth century; and their subjects range from frontier fur traders to Victorian city dwellers. Using textual and archaeological sources, contributors explore such topics as the connections of race to economics, the creation and maintenance of institutionalized poverty, the role of race in structuring and guiding intercultural connections, and the importance of race in creating and defining space.

Contents and Contributors:
Race and the Archaeology of Identity in the Modern World Charles E. Orser Jr.
“An Indolent Slothfull Set of Vagabonds”: Racism in a Colonial Fur-Trading Community, Elizabeth M. Scott, Zooarch Research, St. Mary, MO
African-American Medicinal Rituals, Identity, and Social Relations Ywone Edwards-Ingram, Dept. of Archaeological Research, Colonial Williamsbury
“A Separate House for the Christian Slaves, One for the Negro Slaves”: The Archaeology of Race in Late Seventeenth-Century Virginia, Terrence W. Epperson, Independent Scholar, Philadelphia
Political Economy and Race: Comparative Archaeologies of Annapolis and New Orleans in the Eighteenth Century, Christopher N. Matthews, Hofstra University, Hempstead, NY
Race, Identity, and Habermas’s Life World, Laurie A. Wilkie, University of California, Berkeley
The Cult of Whiteness in New England, Robert Paynter, University of Massachusetts, Amherst
Spirit Management among Americans of African Descent, Mark P. Leone and Gladys Marie Fry, University of Maryland, College Park
Racializing the Parlor: Race and Victorian Bric-a-Brac Consumption, Paul R. Mullins, Indiana University Purdue-University at Indianapolis
Race, Missionaries, and the Struggle to Free Jamaica, James A. Delle, Franklin and Marshall College, Lancaster, PA
Class, Race, and Identity among Free Blacks in the Antebellum South, Theresa A. Singleton, Syracuse University

Charles E. Orser Jr. is distinguished professor of anthropology, Illinois State University and adjunct professor of archaeology, National University of Ireland, Galway. He lives in Normal, Illinois.

Contributors explore such topics as the connections of race to economics, the role of race in structuring and guiding intercultural connections, and the importance of race in creating and defining space.