Heather MacLeod-Leslie | Memorial University of Newfoundland (original) (raw)
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Papers by Heather MacLeod-Leslie
Scholarly archaeological research into the African diaspora in Atlantic Canada is quite limited t... more Scholarly archaeological research into the African diaspora in Atlantic Canada is quite limited to date. The discourse in history has been more regularly attended here but, given the sociopolitical challenges that members of the African diaspora faced, archaeology is a vital and perhaps more democratic source of information to understand this heritage and its importance to modern Atlantic Canadians. This thesis represents an effort to begin to fill this need. -- Localized cultural variation is a factor for which scholars must allow, however the discourse on African diaspora archaeology has demonstrated that some common, Africentric cultural phenomena link populations across the wide geography of the colonial African diaspora through both their African cultural heritage and experiences as members of this diaspora. This thesis, using a specific focus on Black Loyalists and their descendents in Nova Scotia, contends that early black settlers in Atlantic Canada embodied varying degrees ...
Figure 1: Symbols for "Sankofa" "SANKOFA" IS AN AKAN WORD FROM AFRICA and, in its most basic form... more Figure 1: Symbols for "Sankofa" "SANKOFA" IS AN AKAN WORD FROM AFRICA and, in its most basic form, means "return and get it." 1 That is what archaeologists do-return to the places where people lived to get the pieces, and the stories, they left behind. For black people in the Americas, the stories available through the democracy of the archaeological record are inimitable records of their ancestors' perspectives on life. We archaeologists return to get their stories yet unheard. Black Atlantic Canadians should not be categorized as being descended from slaves. They are descended from Africans and their children, many of whom were enslaved-but not all. These people came from and created rich, dynamic cultures steeped in heritage and tradition. Throughout the African diaspora, individuals further developed and strengthened their regional identities, which, in this region, gave rise to the Black Atlantic Canadian culture that is here today. Unlike in the United States, the Caribbean, and South America, where archaeological research of African traditions and culture on black sites has been well-explored for upwards of 30, 40, or even 50 years, there has been a shameful lack of black archaeology in Canada. The most notable exceptions have been the Underground Railroad work in central Canada and work in Birchtown, Nova Scotia, the latter initiated by the threat of a landfill on an area known to Black Loyalist descendents as a former area of their ancestors' settlement and now a forested hinterland. 2 The bottom line, however, is that archaeological research of the African diaspora in Atlantic Canada is only recent, and it has focused on sites in Nova Scotia to the veritable exclusion of the
Scholarly archaeological research into the African diaspora in Atlantic Canada is quite limited t... more Scholarly archaeological research into the African diaspora in Atlantic Canada is quite limited to date. The discourse in history has been more regularly attended here but, given the sociopolitical challenges that members of the African diaspora faced, archaeology is a vital and perhaps more democratic source of information to understand this heritage and its importance to modern Atlantic Canadians. This thesis represents an effort to begin to fill this need. -- Localized cultural variation is a factor for which scholars must allow, however the discourse on African diaspora archaeology has demonstrated that some common, Africentric cultural phenomena link populations across the wide geography of the colonial African diaspora through both their African cultural heritage and experiences as members of this diaspora. This thesis, using a specific focus on Black Loyalists and their descendents in Nova Scotia, contends that early black settlers in Atlantic Canada embodied varying degrees ...
Figure 1: Symbols for "Sankofa" "SANKOFA" IS AN AKAN WORD FROM AFRICA and, in its most basic form... more Figure 1: Symbols for "Sankofa" "SANKOFA" IS AN AKAN WORD FROM AFRICA and, in its most basic form, means "return and get it." 1 That is what archaeologists do-return to the places where people lived to get the pieces, and the stories, they left behind. For black people in the Americas, the stories available through the democracy of the archaeological record are inimitable records of their ancestors' perspectives on life. We archaeologists return to get their stories yet unheard. Black Atlantic Canadians should not be categorized as being descended from slaves. They are descended from Africans and their children, many of whom were enslaved-but not all. These people came from and created rich, dynamic cultures steeped in heritage and tradition. Throughout the African diaspora, individuals further developed and strengthened their regional identities, which, in this region, gave rise to the Black Atlantic Canadian culture that is here today. Unlike in the United States, the Caribbean, and South America, where archaeological research of African traditions and culture on black sites has been well-explored for upwards of 30, 40, or even 50 years, there has been a shameful lack of black archaeology in Canada. The most notable exceptions have been the Underground Railroad work in central Canada and work in Birchtown, Nova Scotia, the latter initiated by the threat of a landfill on an area known to Black Loyalist descendents as a former area of their ancestors' settlement and now a forested hinterland. 2 The bottom line, however, is that archaeological research of the African diaspora in Atlantic Canada is only recent, and it has focused on sites in Nova Scotia to the veritable exclusion of the