Theory in Africa, Africa in Theory: Locating Meaning in Archaeology

429 Pages·2015·3.9 MB·English

by  Stephanie Wynne-Jones

Theory in Africa, Africa in Theory
Theory in Africa, Africa in Theory explores the place of Africa in archaeological
theory, and the place of theory in African archaeology. The centrality of Africa to
global archaeological thinking is highlighted, with a particular focus on
materiality and agency in contemporary interpretation. As a means to explore the
nature of theory itself, the volume also addresses differences between how
African models are used in Western theoretical discourse and the use of that
theory within Africa. Providing a key contribution to theoretical discourse
through a focus on the context of theory-building, this volume explores how
African modes of thought have shaped our approaches to a meaningful past
outside of Africa.
A timely intervention into archaeological thought, Theory in Africa, Africa in
Theory deconstructs the conventional ways we approach the past, positioning the
continent within a global theoretical discourse and blending Western and African
scholarship. This volume will be a valuable resource for those interested in the
archaeology of Africa, as well as providing fresh perspectives to those interested
in archaeological theory more generally.
Stephanie Wynne-Jones is a Swahili archaeologist at the University of York,
specializing in East African coastal urbanism, material culture and social practice.
Jeffrey B. Fleisher is Associate Professor at Rice University and Director of the
Rice University Archaeological Field School.
Theory in Africa, Africa in Theory
Locating meaning in archaeology
Edited by Stephanie Wynne-Jones and Jeffrey B. Fleisher
First published 2015
by Routledge
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and by Routledge
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© 2015 Stephanie Wynne-Jones and Jeffrey B. Fleisher
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individual chapters, has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and
Patents Act 1988.
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British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Theory in Africa, Africa in theory : locating meaning in archaeology /
edited by Stephanie Wynne-Jones and Jeffrey B. Fleisher.
pages cm
Includes index.
1. Archaeology–Philosophy. 2. Archaeology–Africa. 3. Excavations
(Archaeology)–Africa. 4. Africa–Antiquities. I. Wynne-Jones, Stephanie.
II. Fleisher, Jeffrey B.
CC72.T475 2015
960’.1–dc23                        2015002392
ISBN: 978-1-138-86060-5 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-138-86061-2 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-315-71638-1 (ebk)
Typeset in Bembo
by Sunrise Setting Ltd, Paignton, UK
Contents
List of figures
List of contributors
Preface
PART I Disciplinary engagements with Africa
1 Theory in Africa: Africa in theory
Stephanie Wynne-Jones and Jeffrey B. Fleisher
2 African models in global histories
Scott MacEachern
3 The problem of equifinality in archaeology
Felix Chami
4 The place of Africa in theory
Henrietta L. Moore
PART II Theory in Africa
5 Problems with practice: dynamic interpretation in African archaeology
Stephanie Wynne-Jones
6 Situating the Swahili house
Jeffrey B. Fleisher
7 Pioneers of archaeological thought and practice in postcolonial Nigeria
Akinwumi Ogundiran
8 Settlements and culture: cognitive models in African
Thomas N. Huffman
9 Material expressions of religious identity in Ghana
Kodzo Gavua
10 What kind of science is archaeology? Iron Age studies in southern Africa
Per Ditlef Fredriksen
PART III Africa in archaeological theory: impacts beyond the continent
11 Iron Age imaginaries and barbarian encounters: British prehistory’s African
past
Paul Lane
12 The African State in theory: thoughts on political landscapes and the limits of
rule in Atlantic Senegal (and elsewhere)
François G. Richard
13 Broadening the archaeological perspective: some lessons from the sub-Saharan
African
Timothy Insoll
14 Off the coast, but hopefully not too off-the-cuff: thoughts on anthropological
archaeology and theory in practice in Africa
Susan Kus
PART IV
15 Archaeology of a continent, in theory
Wendy Ashmore
16 Anthropology, archaeology and African studies: some thoughts on theory,
stuff and the possibilities of a new Afro-centrism
Joost Fontein
Index
Figures
3.1 a) David Clarke’s and b) Colin Renfrew and Paul Bahn’s models of what
archaeology should deal with: demonstrating dynamics and the interrelated
parts of the social system
8.1 Sites and peoples in southern Africa mentioned in the text
8.2 The structural arrangement of the Central Cattle Pattern
8.3 Two Middle Iron Age homesteads in the Limpopo Valley with the Central
Cattle Pattern
8.4 The structural arrangement of the elite Zimbabwe Pattern
8.5 The elite Zimbabwe Pattern at Danangombe, c.1690–1820
8.6 Spatial steps from the Central Cattle Pattern at K2 to the Zimbabwe Pattern at
Mapungubwe
8.7 Organizing principles derived from Pawnee ethnography
8.8 Reconstructed rectangular lodges in the Wallace hamlet
9.1 Map of Ghana indicating the mid-west Volta region
9.2 Some shrine items of the mid-west Volta region
9.3 Granitic stone shrine
9.4 Excavated shrine items at Dzake-Peki
11.1 Reconstructed Iron Age roundhouses at Castell Henllys hillfort,
Pembrokeshire, Wales
11.2 Amédée Forestier’s 1911 illustration of the interior of a Glastonbury lake
village house
11.5 Trends in the use of ‘ethnographic parallels’ in articles published in the
Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society Vols. 31–70 (1965–2004)
11.6 a) Pierre Bourdieu’s synopsis of the symbolic dimensions of the Kabyle
akham; b) Andrew Fitzpatrick’s summary of the symbolic divisions of Iron
Age household space in relation to the ‘sunwise’ passage of time
11.7 Diagram depicting chronological changes in orientation of Wessex
roundhouse entrances; each box represents a single house and infilled boxes
refer to those at Danebury hillfort
12.1 Political boundaries of the precolonial Siin kingdom, c.1850
12.2 West-central Senegal: kingdoms and ethnic groups in the mid-nineteeth
century
12.3 Siin settlement distribution map, Phase Va (AD 1400s–1700s)
12.4 Siin settlement distribution map, Phase Vb (eighteenth – late nineteenth
century)
12.5 Siin region, Phase Vb (eighteenth–nineteenth century): settlement
distribution sizes
12.6 Village of Mbissel, the tomb of Maisa Wali Joon, mythical founder of the Siin
kingdom, and one of the principal spirit-shrines in the state pantheon
13.1 Man hoeing and clearing the path to Tongnaab Yaane during the Boardaam
festival, Bonchiig section, October 2008
13.2 A crossroads at Niélé, Senufo region, Mali. Protective signs are marked on to
the paths with ashes mixed in water (Zahan 1974: 31)