Current Perspectives on the Archaeology of African Slavery in Latin America

This edited volume aims at exploring a most relevant but somewhat neglected subject in archaeological studies, especially within Latin America: maroons and runaway settlements. Scholarship on runaways is well established and prolific in ethnology, anthropology and history, but it is still in its infancy in archaeology. A small body of archaeological literature on maroons exists for other regions, but no single volume discusses the subject in depth, including diverse eras and geographical areas within Latin American contexts. Thus, a central aim of the volume is to gather together some of the most active, Latin American maroon archaeologists in a single volume. This volume will thus become an important reference book on the subject and will also foster further archaeology research on maroon settlements. The introduction and comments by senior scholars provide a wide-ranging and comprehensive analysis of runaway archaeology that will help to indicate the global importance of this research.

Pedro Paulo A. Funari is professor of historical archaeology at the University of Campinas, Brazil, former World Archaeological Congress secretary, author and editor of several books, such as Historical archaeology, back from the edge (London, Routledge, 1999), Global Archaeological Theory (New York, Springer, 2005), Memories from Darkness, the archaeology of repression and resistance in Latin America (New York, Springer, 2009), with fieldwork in Brazil, England, Wales, Spain and Italy (several in each country). Funari is member of the editorial boards of several journals, notably the International Journal of Historical Archaeology (New York), Journal of Material Culture (London), Public Archaeology (London, UCL) and is referee in several other journals, like Current Anthropology. Funari has published papers in most prestigious journals, such as Historical Archaeology, Current Anthropology, Archaeologies, Revue Archeologique, Antiquity, American Antiquity, American Journal of Archaeology and has edited archaeological encyclopedias.

Charles E. Orser, Jr is currently a Research Professor at Vanderbilt University. He is an anthropologically trained historical archaeologist who works in post-Columbian history, “modern-world archaeology.” His primary research interests lie in social theory, the archaeological analysis of social inequality and the material conditions of modernity. His research activities concentrate on the dispossessed and overlooked in history and to date he has investigated Native American (American Plains and Midwest) African (American South and Brazil) and Irish material conditions (Republic of Ireland). He is the founder and editor of International Journal of Historical Archaeology and the author of several books on historical archaeology.