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了解小规模社会是如何受到长期的全球联系的影响的，这些社会通常被视为“传统的”和不变的。西非社会从十五世纪末开始参与大西洋贸易，一个核心问题是，过去几个世纪不断变化的当地和全球贸易关系以及殖民政策如何影响它们的日常生活。在这个项目中，在Ann Stahl教授的指导下，Ray Apoh将使用多种来源(考古学、口述历史学、档案学、人种学)来探索特定的日常习俗，特别是食物和Kpando人(Akpinis)的国内技术，是如何受到殖民前和殖民时期的政治经济压力的影响的，例如改变劳动安排、新的进口品味和Kpando经济的货币化。这项研究还探索了殖民地官员如何在远离殖民首都的地区中心谈判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，在他们的食物中)。Kpando位于加纳的Volta地区，至少从18世纪开始就受到强大的外部势力的影响，从奴隶掠夺、战争、贸易和与位于Kpando以西的Asante国家的文化互动开始。紧随其后的是德国和英国从19世纪中叶到1957年的殖民统治。殖民政权建立了殖民地，并努力为他们的欧洲产品培育新的市场。他们还将当地劳动力和当地生产转移到大都市认为重要的大宗商品上。在Kpando的这些不同遭遇的回响导致了当地经济的货币化，这影响了劳动习惯、饮食习惯以及殖民官员和地方精英之间社会差别的重新谈判。在方法上，这项研究将探索口述历史、档案和民族志来源，以及来自Kpando四个遗址的考古数据集，以比较评估土著和殖民者日常实践中的连续性和变化模式。这些遗址包括早期阿克皮尼定居点、现存的殖民定居点以及殖民时期的阿克皮尼精英和平民遗址。陶器、动物和植物遗骸将有助于研究不断变化的家庭技术和食物方式。这项对地方和殖民影响对Kpando生活方式的影响的调查，将有助于越来越多的案例研究，旨在评估不同文化纠葛中的共性和差异。它还将有助于我们理解前殖民时代和殖民时代背景下的机构--换句话说，人们对类似进程的不同反应。这项研究的一个重大实际贡献是纳入了对加纳学生的实地培训，并通过小册子、演讲和通过网站和科学期刊上的出版物向当地受众广泛传播研究成果。通过加强对Kpando殖民前和殖民历史的了解，这项研究还将有助于Kpando人正在开发的旅游倡议。

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.