University of Florida Press: Journals
Not a member yet
2180 research outputs found
Sort by
Approaching Identity, Locality, and Community in Isotope Bioarchaeology
No full textEach contribution to this special issue represents an emergent effort to explicitly situate isotopic research within the theoretical perspectives that inform, and increasingly underlie, other approaches within bioarchaeology. An ontological turn in social bioarchaeology has facilitated a proliferation of studies interrogating and reimagining key concepts like identity, mobility, personhood, and embodiment. However, as the editors of this issue note, isotope analysis has lagged somewhat behind this new wave of research. In this invited commentary, I review recent work in isotope bioarchaeology that engages with or informs these theoretical perspectives, focusing in particular on dynamic and intersecting themes related to identity, locality and foreignness, and community. In this analysis, I include a discussion of identity and community among bioarchaeologists, as we grapple with our disciplinary history of exclusion and exploitation and imagine the future of who we collectively are and how we do our work.
Cada una de las contribuciones a este número especial de la revista representa a un esfuerzo incipiente por situar explícitamente las investigaciones de isótopos estables dentro de las perspectivas teóricas que informan—y subyacen cada vez más—otros enfoques de la bioarqueología. Un giro ontológico en la bioarqueología social ha facilitado una proliferación de investigaciones que interrogan y reinventan conceptos claves como identidad, movilidad, y corporeidad. Sin embargo, tal como resaltan, los editores de este número, el análisis de isótopos se han quedado rezagados respecto a esta nueva oleada de estudios. En este comentario invitado, yo reseño estudios recientes de bioarqueología de isótopos que involucran o informan dichas perspectivas teoréticas, y me centro en temas dinámicos e interseccionales relacionados con la identidad, la localidad y la extranjería, y la comunidad. En este análisis, incluyo una discusión sobre las identidades y comunidades de les bioarqueóloges y su estado, mientras lidiamos con nuestra historia disciplinaria de exclusión y explotación e imaginamos el futuro de quiénes somos en tanto colective y cómo realizamos nuestro trabajo
Social Theory in Isotope Bioarchaeology: Case Studies and Prospects
No full textIntroduction to the Special Issu
Mortuary Practices and the Importance of Rock-Shelters during the Early and Middle Holocene in the Southern Maya Mountains
No full textResearch at two rock-shelters in the Maya Mountains of southern Belize, Mayahak Cab Pek and Saki Tzul, documents their persistent use as mortuary spaces over 9000 years, spanning the end of the last ice age until the end of the Classic period. These sites offer a rare diachronic view of mortuary behaviors within a single region of the neotropics spanning from early foragers through a long interval of transitional farmers. Here, we provide the first detailed discussion of human remains from these sites representing 30 burials dating between 12,000 and 3700 cal B.P. Analyses of burial features shows that communities in the region used diverse mortuary practices across this interval for the treatment and interment of their dead. These include primary burial, secondary burial, cremation, and possible disarticulation. All age categories are represented in the assemblage. Molecular data from aDNA and isotopes provide evidence of shifts in cultural behaviors and regional population structure. Despite these changes, mortuary treatments continue to be diverse throughout this time period, with no observable pattern or trend. However, all burials were recovered in two rock-shelters, representing unique features on the landscape. We examine and theorize the importance of these locations as mortuary spaces important to communities through time. We also explore evidence for the relationship between mourners, their dead, and these rock-shelters as precursors to later Classic Maya worldviews.
En este trabajo se investigan dos refugios rocosos en las Montañas Mayas del sur de Belice, Mayahak Cab Pek y Saki Tzul para documentar su uso por 9000 años como espacios mortuorios, desde el final de la última época glacial hasta el final del período Clásico. Estos sitios ofrecen una visión diacrónica de los comportamientos mortuorios dentro de una sola región del neotrópico que abarca desde los primeros recolectores hasta la transición de agricultores. En este artículo se discute por primera vez los restos humanos de estos sitios que constan de 30 entierros que datan entre 12.000 y 3700 cal A.P. Las características de los entierros muestran que las omunidades de la región utilizaron diversas prácticas mortuorias a lo largo de este intervalo, incluyendo entierro primario, entierro secundario, cremaciones y posiblemente la desarticulación individuos. Todas las categorías de edad están representadas en el conjunto. Se encontró evidencia de cambios en los comportamientos culturales y la estructura de la población a nivel regional basado en los datos moleculares del ADNa e isótopos. A pesar de estos cambios, los tratamientos mortuorios no muestran ningún patrón o tendencia y son diversos a lo largo de este período. Sin embargo, todos los enterramientos fueron recuperados en dos abrigos rocosos, lo que representa elementos únicos en el paisaje. Examinamos y teorizamos la importancia de estos lugares como espacios mortuorios importantes para las comunidades a través del tiempo. También, exploramos evidencia de la relación entre los dolientes, sus muertos y estos refugios rocosos como precursores de las cosmovisiones mayas posteriores del Clásico
Call for Chapters for an Edited Volume Published by a US-Based Academic Press (TBD): Transatlantic Songs and Music
No full textThis call for chapters invites researchers to prepare submissions for our edited book about transatlantic and Atlantic-intersecting songs and music. These pivotal forms of transoceanic cultural expression, preservation, exchange, and innovation reveal creative, inventive, linguistic, historical, religious, social, ludic, and emotional aspects of experience. We welcome contributions about transatlantic and Atlantic-intersecting songs and music from authors working in musicology, linguistics, cultural studies, literary criticism, ethnology, historiography, religious studies, philosophy, anthropology, and sociology, among other disciplines. 
Racism Learnt and Unlearnt: Locating Afro-Diasporic Experiences in India in “The Shade of You” by Anushree Majumdar
No full textFor centuries, Africans migrated to India in different phases resulting in a significant presence of the African diaspora in this country. The term “African diaspora” gained currency only in the mid-nineteenth century in connection with the study of the people of African origin dispersed all over the world. But in countries like India, the African presence dates as far back as the period of the Indian Ocean slave trade. Historically, India and Africa have shared cordial political and economic relations. Their shared history of anti-colonial struggle, the mutual reverence for political leaders like Mahatma Gandhi and Nelson Mandela, and India’s support for postapartheid South Africa might indicate the peaceful coexistence of Indians and Africans in present-day India. But the on the ground reality hits differently, as depicted in “The Shade of You” by Anushree Majumdar, published in Eleven Ways to Love: Essays by Penguin India. Majumdar thinks herself a modern and enlightened woman until she gets into a relationship with Bryan Ochieng, a Kenyan studying in Delhi. As she gradually explores her relationship with Bryan, she comes to know about different aspects of racism that the African diaspora faces in Delhi in a more intimate way. Getting mocked and ridiculed for dating a black man in the public space makes her critique the racist attitude of her fellow Delhiites. She realizes that Indians have deeply internalized the colonial legacy of racism and colorism. She understands that, since our very childhood, we embrace a culture informed by racist ideology unconsciously. Indians are satisfied with the tokenist acceptance of black culture by celebrating black footballers and pop artists, but they would never let African diasporic people come closer as family and friends. This mindset has sufficiently exoticized and otherized Africans in India. Her proximity to Bryan reveals to her how ignorant she has been about Bryan’s culture despite her love of selective parts of Kenyan culture. The presence of Bryan and his Kenyan friends in her life offers her moments of self-reflexivity. She comes to question how much she has been able to unlearn her racial prejudices, and the answer forces her to confront an aspect of her race–intolerant subjectivity so far buried under her conscious race-sensitive self. Her self-realization makes her feel uncomfortable and apologetic. She feels that the self-realization that has dawned upon her is not enough to help her in the unlearning process overnight. She fails to maintain a long-term relationship with Bryan given their seemingly unbridgeable cultural gap at that point in time. But Bryan’s entry into her life marks the beginning of her anti-racism journey in the true sense of the term and it continues. Years later, she finds that she has become a better version of herself who is no longer troubled by the hidden guilt and shame associated with her relationship with an African
On Discourses of Kingship in Contemporary Africa: What Role the Hero and the Hero-Turned Villain
No full textOn Discourses of Kingship in Contemporary Africa: What Role the Hero and the Hero-Turned Villian
