Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant: Social Identity and Inequality: A Multi-Generational Case Study of the African Diaspora

在Dr. Laurie Wilkie的指导下，Annelise Morris将利用考古发掘、文献和口述历史研究来进行一个研究项目，以研究伊利诺斯州边境上自由的非裔美国人的生活经历。该研究区域位于伊利诺斯州东南部的劳伦斯县，包括大约从1827年到现在的三个农村宅基地。这段漫长的占领时期为研究非洲裔美国人从早期拓殖时期，到南北战争和吉姆·克劳（Jim Crow）时期到20世纪不断变化的经济和社会现实提供了一个机会。莫里斯女士将使用这些多重证据来研究非洲裔美国人在这一时期的社会和经济经历是如何变化的，以及这如何反映美国社会中种族和社会身份的变化。在整个人类学历史中，考察种族等社会身份及其与社会不平等的关系的重要性，通过对我们自己社会的研究反映出来。挖掘将侧重于从家庭活动区域回收材料，如院子空间、根窖和家庭内部。该项目将考察陶瓷、玻璃和金属材料，重点关注这些地点的风格和经济选择。此外，莫里斯女士还将考察动物考古遗迹，这些遗迹有望反映牲畜经济（从销售到维持）、食物分享和饮食习惯的变化。莫里斯女士还将分析古民族植物学遗迹（现场植物及其消费的证据），以进一步说明饮食习惯，以及这类人群不易获得外部医疗服务的家庭医疗和草药疗法。这个项目将从这些19世纪和20世纪早期的农场遗址中回收这些考古材料，并将这些结果与非非洲裔美国人占据的类似遗址进行比较。通过研究消费、风格、饮食和其他选择的差异，莫里斯女士将探索生活在一个以主导地位为结构的社会中的现实是如何影响非洲裔美国农村社会的。这项研究假设，通过维持农村自给自足的农业生活，自由的非洲裔美国人能够通过这种自给自足来应对种族主义。通过在19世纪的背景下考察这个问题，这项研究不仅是对我们自己的现代社会形成的评论，而且其结果可以用来通过时间来思考这个人类学问题。这个项目很大程度上是基于社区外展和参与。莫里斯女士是后代社区的一员，因此她一直在努力评估和加强与利益相关者的考古关系，使该地区的历史和这种科学探索与当地社区相关，并使其易于获取，重点是将社区的兴趣和知识结合起来。该基地的所有工作已经并将继续向公众开放，供参观、探索和志愿服务。通过这种方式，该项目将为社区志愿者、学生和教师带来机会，让他们有机会到农村地区体验科学和历史研究，并通过与那些对过去仍然非常重视的人建立对话，丰富对考古过去的解释。

Under the guidance of Dr. Laurie Wilkie, Annelise Morris will conduct a research project utilizing archaeological excavations, documentary and oral historical research to examine the lived experiences of free African-Americans on the Illinois frontier. Located in Lawrence County in Southeastern Illinois, this study area encompasses three rural homesteads, occupied from approximately 1827 to the present. This long occupation period offers an opportunity to study the changing economic and social realities for African-Americans from the early pioneer period, through the Civil War and Jim Crow into the 20th century. Ms. Morris will use these multiple lines of evidence to examine how lived social and economic experiences changed for African-Americans through this time period, and how this reflects changing formations of race and social identity in U.S. society. The importance of examining social identities such as race and their relationship to social inequality, throughout anthropological history, been reflected by and through studies of our own societies. Excavations will focus on recovery of materials from household activity areas, such as yard spaces, root cellars, and household interiors. The project will examine ceramic, glass, and metal materials focusing on the stylistic and economic choices being made at these sites. Additionally Ms. Morris will examine zooarchaeological remains, which are expected to reflect the changing livestock economy (from sale to sustenance), food-sharing, and dietary practices. Ms. Morris will also analyze paleoethnobotanical remains (evidence of plants and their consumption at the site) to speak further to dietary practices, and to the home medical and herbal remedies utilized by populations such as this which did not have easy access to outside medical care. This project will these archaeological materials recovered from these 19th and early 20th century farmstead sites, and compare these results with similar sites occupied by non African-American settlers. By examining difference in consumption, stylistic, dietary and other choices, Ms. Morris will explore how the realities of living in a society structured in dominance shaped rural African-American society. This study hypothesizes that by maintaining a rural, self-sufficient farming livelihood, free African-Americans were able to cope with racism through this self-sufficiency. By examining this issue in a 19th century setting, this study is not only a commentary of the formation of our own modern society, but the results can be used to think through this anthropological problem through time. This project is based heavily in community outreach and participation. Ms. Morris is a member of the descendant community, and as such has sought to evaluate and strengthen archaeological relationships with stakeholders, making the area's history and this scientific exploration relevant and accessible to the local community, focusing on incorporation of community interest and knowledge. All work at the site has been and will continue to be open and accessible to public, for visiting, exploring and volunteering. Through this, the project will bring opportunities for community volunteers, students, and teachers to experience scientific and historical research to a rural area where such opportunities are few, and will enrich interpretations of the archaeological past by creating a dialogue with those people for whom this past is still very salient.