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28th Annual Visiting Scholar Conference

Plantation sites, particularly those in the southeastern United States, have long dominated the archaeological study of slavery. These antebellum estates, however, do not represent the wide variety of geographic and temporal contexts in which slavery has occurred in human history. As archaeologists begin to investigate slavery in settings as diverse as contact-period Philippine chiefdoms and ancient Rome, the need for a broader interpretive framework has never been more apparent. The goals of the 2012 CAI Visiting Scholar Conference are (1) to develop an interregional and cross-temporal framework for the archaeological interpretation of slavery and (2) to promote a diachronic approach to the topic, extending from before the moment of capture to beyond emancipation.

As of yet, there has been limited professional exchange between practitioners of African American archaeology and scholars studying slavery elsewhere. The interregional and cross-temporal dialogue this conference promotes would help archaeologists develop strategies to confront basic methodological challenges facing the field, such as recognizing archaeological signatures of slavery. Dialogue could also facilitate productive interpretive cross-fertilization between prehistoric and historical archaeologists interested in, for example, slave identity or slave owners’ strategies of coercion. This conference offers an opportunity for archaeologists studying slavery to begin to develop the broader interpretive toolbox necessary to confront the growing diversity of their field.

A diachronic approach to the study of slavery, encompassing both enslavement and emancipation, offers additional interpretive benefits. Comparisons of enslaved and formerly enslaved peoples may permit insight into, for instance, changes in the material expressions of identity or cultural practice. Likewise, through the study of slaving, archaeologists are forced to recognize and analyze the instability of social boundaries and identities.

Potential paper topics include, but are not limited to:

Conflicting definitions of slavery and how these definitions affect the archaeological identification and analysis of slave systems.

Potential material representations of slavery (including iconography, pottery style distribution, bodily abuse, and skewed sex ratios). The conference will explore under what conditions the existence of slavery may be established solely through archaeological indicators. Developing a purely material means of identifying slavery would significantly expand the comparative scope of the field by facilitating the analysis of slavery in prehistoric settings.

How to resolve or interpret discrepancies between archaeological, oral historical, and documentary data about slavery.

Slave owners’ strategies of coercion and how enslaved people managed or resisted this coercion in different world settings.

The role of race and ethnicity in slave systems: comparisons of systems in which enslaved people constituted a visually distinctive class and those in which the enslaved were generally visually indistinguishable from their owners.

Slave identity creation in captivity under different systems of slavery.

Landscape versus site approaches to the archaeological interpretation of slave systems.

Slaving and capture: how the social identity “slave” is imposed and upheld.

The legacies of slavery confronted by formerly enslaved people and their descendants.

The conference will be held March 30-31, 2012. Click the following links for

Register for Conference

Conference Schedule

Conference Brochure (PDF)

Conference Poster (PDF)

Paper Abstracts

Travel Information

Call for Papers

Abstract Guidelines

Printable version of the Call for Papers (PDF)

We look forward to your participation.