Genealogies of Practice & Global Entanglements in Banda, Ghana, AD1000-1900

实践谱系

• 批准号: 0751350
• 负责人: Ann Stahl
• 金额: $ 23万
• 依托单位: SUNY at Binghamton
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2008
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2008-04-01 至 2012-03-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0751350&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Genealogies; Practice; & Global; Entanglements

With National Science Foundation support, Dr. Ann Stahl and associates will conduct two seasons of archaeological excavations to investigate how daily life in Banda, Ghana was reshaped through global processes. The project will investigate change and continuity in practices of ritual, craft production and diet in relation to the area's shifting global connections, including the trans-Saharan trade from c AD 1200, Atlantic trade from c AD 1600 and formal colonial rule from the late 19th century. As amply demonstrated in Africa as elsewhere, daily life was reshaped through global entanglements. New products were produced and consumed, new crops adopted, and divisions of labor reconfigured. This research is part of a long-term project that has investigated successively earlier Banda sites to gain comparative insight into the dynamics of cultural practice. Drawing on oral historical, archival and archaeological evidence, project personnel have documented the dynamics of cultural practice as Banda was drawn into the British colonial sphere (after 1880); as Banda became subject to the expansionist Asante state and the external slave trade gave way to intensified internal trade (1770s to 1880s); and as Banda peoples negotiated the southward shift in the gravity of trade with the opening of Atlantic networks (from the early 17th century). As such, project results challenge conventional images of West African societies as unchanging and enmeshed in tradition. In this research phase, attention will focus on the period when Banda became enmeshed in trans-Saharan trade. Expanded archaeological excavations at two previously tested sites (an Ngre Phase site dating to c. AD 1250-1400 in year 1 and a Volta Phase site occupied c. AD 1000-1200 in year 2) will generate evidence on practices of ritual, diet and craft production in a period when Banda villagers were forging connections with urban centers on the Niger River. Smaller scale excavations at a 19th-century site in year 1 will provide insight into spatial variation in practices of ritual, craft production and diet during a period of political and economic dislocation in the 19th century. A study of contemporary plant exploitation will create a required baseline for interpreting archaeological botanical evidence. A particular focus of this project is how communities were formed and reconfigured through material practice (the making and using of pottery and metal; the manipulation of objects in ritual; the acquisition, preparation and consumption of foods; and the depositional practices that created archaeological deposits). Comparative analyses of practices within and across archaeological phases will provide insight into the genealogical connections between communities as they negotiated a changing geopolitical landscape. Intellectually this project will contribute to our understanding of global processes by balancing an appreciation of their shared effects with an exploration of the locally and culturally specific ways in which people negotiate geopolitical currents through material practice. Broader impacts include training opportunities for American and Ghanaian students and continuing community involvement in a project that underscores the value of archaeological data for understanding West Africa's dynamic past.

在国家科学基金会的支持下，安斯塔尔博士和同事将进行两个季节的考古发掘，以调查加纳班达的日常生活是如何通过全球进程重塑的。该项目将调查与该地区不断变化的全球联系有关的仪式、手工艺生产和饮食习惯的变化和连续性，包括公元1200年前后的跨撒哈拉贸易、公元1600年前后的大西洋贸易和19世纪后期的正式殖民统治。正如在非洲和其他地方充分证明的那样，日常生活因全球性的纠缠而被重新塑造。新的产品被生产和消费，新的作物被采用，劳动分工被重新配置。 这项研究是一个长期项目的一部分，该项目先后调查了早期的班达遗址，以比较深入地了解文化实践的动态。项目人员利用口述历史、档案和考古证据，记录了班达被拉入英国殖民领域时文化实践的动态（1880年后）;随着班达成为扩张主义的阿桑特国家的主体，外部奴隶贸易让位于强化的内部贸易（1770年代至1880年代）;以及随着大西洋网络的开放（从世纪初），班达人人谈判贸易重心的南移。因此，项目成果挑战了西非社会一成不变和陷入传统的传统形象。 在这一研究阶段，注意力将集中在班达卷入跨撒哈拉贸易的时期。在两个先前测试过的遗址（一个Ngre阶段遗址，可追溯到c。公元1250年至1400年在第1和沃尔特阶段网站占领c。公元1000-1200年（第二年）将产生关于仪式、饮食和手工艺生产实践的证据，当时班达村民正在与尼日尔河上的城市中心建立联系。第一年在一个19世纪遗址进行的小规模挖掘将深入了解19世纪政治和经济混乱时期仪式、工艺生产和饮食实践的空间变化。对当代植物开发利用的研究将为解释考古植物学证据建立一个必要的基线。 该项目的一个特别重点是社区如何通过物质实践（陶器和金属的制作和使用;仪式中对物品的操纵;食物的获取、准备和消费;以及创造考古沉积物的沉积实践）形成和重新配置。在考古阶段内和跨考古阶段的做法的比较分析将提供深入了解社区之间的家谱联系，因为他们谈判不断变化的地缘政治格局。 在智力上，这个项目将有助于我们对全球进程的理解，通过平衡对它们的共同影响的理解，探索人们通过物质实践谈判地缘政治潮流的地方和文化的具体方式。更广泛的影响包括为美国和加纳学生提供培训机会，以及社区继续参与一个项目，该项目强调了考古数据对了解西非动态过去的价值。