African Archaeology Talk: Kings, Queens, Commoners, and Captives
This lecture "Kings, Queens, Commoners, and Captives: What Can Archaeology Tell Us About Dahomean Society in the Era of the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade?" with Dr. J. Cameron Monroe was held virtually via the Center for African Studies at Howard University.
ABSTRACT:
The Kingdom of Dahomey, in the modern Republic of Benin, stands as one of the most comprehensively researched kingdoms in precolonial West Africa. Decades of historical, anthropological, and art historical research have cast important light on the origins of the precolonial polity, and its rise, expansion, and transformation through its participation into the trans-Atlantic slave trade. Since the year 2000, Professor J. Cameron Monroe has led archaeological surveys and excavations at palace sites, urban centers, and rural villages across the Abomey Plateau, the political heartland of the kingdom. In this presentation, he will discuss how archaeological research is reshaping our understanding of the nature and extent of Dahomey political power in the Atlantic era, and its impact on local communities across the region.
BIO:
Professor J. Cameron Monroe is Director of the Archaeological Research Center and a faculty member in the Anthropology Department at University of California, Santa Cruz. Specializing in the archaeology of West Africa and the African Diaspora, he brings expertise in historical anthropology, social complexity, state evolution, and urbanism. His methodologies encompass spatial analysis and GIS, as well as studies in landscape, monumentality, and cultural transformations.
Dr. Monroe's primary focus is on the political, economic, and cultural shifts in West Africa during the era of the slave trade. His pivotal work, the Abomey Plateau Archaeological Project, in the Republic of Bénin, investigates the political economy of landscape and urban changes during this critical period. Expanding his purview, in 2015, he launched the Milot Archaeological Project, a study into the materiality of power in post-revolutionary Haiti, centered on the royal palace site of Sans-Souci and its role in the Kingdom of Hayti following the Haitian revolution.
SPONSORING INSTITUTIONS:
DC Society of the AIA
Howard University:
Department of African Studies,
Center for African Studies,
Department of Political Science,
Archaeology Working Group