Doctoral Dissertation Research Grant: The Akpinis and the Echoes of German and British Colonial Overrule: An Archaeological Investigation of Kpando, Ghana

当代人类学的一个重要焦点是理解经常被视为“传统”和不变的小规模社会是如何受到长期全球联系的影响的。从15世纪末开始，西非社会就参与了大西洋贸易，一个核心问题是，在过去的几个世纪里，不断变化的当地和全球贸易关系以及殖民政策如何影响了他们的日常生活。在这个项目中，Ray Apoh将在Ann Stahl教授的指导下，使用多种资源（考古、口述历史、档案、人种学）来探索Kpando人（Akpinis）的具体日常实践，特别是食物方式和家庭技术，是如何受到前殖民和殖民政治经济压力的影响的，这些压力包括劳动安排的改变、对进口商品的新口味和Kpando经济的货币化。该研究还探讨了殖民官员如何在远离殖民首都的地区中心商定他们的日常生活安排。一个特别的重点是了解德国和后来的英国殖民官员在多大程度上为自己提供食物，并受到阿克皮尼文化习俗的影响（例如，他们的饮食方式）。Kpando位于加纳的沃尔特地区，至少从18世纪开始，它就受到强大的外部力量的影响，从奴隶掠夺、战争、贸易和与位于Kpando西部的Asante国家的文化交流开始。随后，从19世纪中期到1957年，德国和英国进行了殖民统治。殖民政权建立了一个定居点，并努力为他们的欧洲产品开拓新的市场。他们还把当地的劳动力和生产转移到大都市认为重要的商品上。在Kpando，这些不同遭遇的反响导致了当地经济的货币化，这影响了劳动实践、饮食实践以及殖民地官员和当地精英之间社会差异的重新谈判。在方法上，该研究将探索口述历史、档案和民族志来源，以及来自Kpando四个地点的考古数据集，以比较评估当地人和殖民者日常实践的连续性和变化模式。这些遗址包括早期的阿克皮尼人定居点，现存的殖民地定居点以及殖民时期阿克皮尼精英和平民的遗址。陶瓷、动物和植物遗迹将有助于研究不断变化的国内技术和食物方式。对当地和殖民影响对Kpando生活方式的影响的调查，以及反之亦然，将有助于越来越多的案例研究，旨在评估跨文化交往中的共性和差异。这也将有助于我们理解前殖民和殖民时期的能动性——换句话说，人们对类似过程的不同反应。这项研究的一个重要的实际贡献是为加纳学生提供实地培训，并通过小册子、演讲和通过网站和科学期刊出版物的更广泛传播向当地受众传播研究成果。通过加强对Kpando前殖民和殖民历史的了解，这项研究也将有助于Kpando人正在开发的旅游计划。

An important focus in contemporary anthropology is understanding how small-scale societies, often viewed as "traditional" and unchanging, were effected by long-standing global connections. West African societies were involved in the Atlantic trade from the end of the fifteenth century, and a central question is how their daily lives were affected by changing local and global trade relations and colonial policies over the past several centuries. In this project, Ray Apoh under the supervision of Professor Ann Stahl, will use multiple sources (archaeological, oral historical, archival, ethnographic) to explore how specific daily practices, particularly foodways and the domestic technology of Kpando people (Akpinis), were impacted by precolonial and colonial political economic pressures such as altered labor arrangements, new tastes for imports and the monetization of the Kpando economy. The research also explores how colonial officials negotiated their daily living arrangements in district centers far from the colonial capital. A particular focus is to understand the extent to which German and later British colonial officials provisioned themselves and were shaped by Akpini cultural practices (e.g., in their foodways). Kpando, located in the Volta Region of Ghana, was shaped by powerful external forces from at least the 18th century, beginning with slave raids, warfare, trade and cultural interaction with the Asante state located to the west of Kpando. This was followed by German and British colonial rule from the mid 19th century until 1957. The colonial regimes established a settlement and worked to cultivate new markets for their European products. They also diverted local labor and local production toward commodities deemed important by the metropolis. The reverberations of these varied encounters in Kpando led to the monetization of the local economy, which impacted labor practices, dietary practices and renegotiations of social distinctions among colonial officials and local elites. Methodologically, the research will explore oral historical, archival, and ethnographic sources in addition to archaeological data sets from four sites in Kpando to comparatively assess patterns of continuity and change in the daily practices of natives and colonizers. The sites include the early Akpini settlement, the extant colonial settlement and the Akpini elite and commoner sites of the colonial period. Ceramic, faunal and botanical remains will contribute to the study of the changing domestic technology and foodways. This investigation into the effects of local and colonial influences on Kpando lifeways and vice versa, will contribute to a growing body of case studies aimed at assessing commonalities and variations in intercultural entanglements. It will also contribute to our understanding of agency in pre-colonial and colonial contexts-in other words, the differential responses of people to similar processes. A significant practical contribution of this study is incorporating field training for Ghanaian students as well as disseminating research results to a local audience through pamphlets, presentations, and wider dissemination through a website and publications in scientific journals. By enhancing understanding of the pre-colonial and colonial history of Kpando, the research will also contribute to tourist initiatives that are being developed by Kpando people.