The Archaeology of Colonialism: Intimate Encounters and Sexual Effects

Barbara L. Voss · Eleanor Conlin Casella

Oct 2011 · Cambridge University Press

About this ebook

This volume examines human sexuality as an intrinsic element in the interpretation of complex colonial societies. While archaeological studies of the historic past have explored the dynamics of European colonialism, such work has largely ignored broader issues of sexuality, embodiment, commemoration, reproduction and sensuality. Recently, however, scholars have begun to recognize these issues as essential components of colonization and imperialism. This book explores a variety of case studies, revealing the multifaceted intersections of colonialism and sexuality. Incorporating work that ranges from Phoenician diasporic communities of the eighth century to Britain's nineteenth-century Australian penal colonies to the contemporary Maroon community of Brazil, this volume changes the way we understand the relationship between sexuality and colonial history.

About the author

Barbara L. Voss is an Associate Professor of Anthropology at Stanford University, where she is also affiliated with the Stanford Archaeology Center, Feminist Studies and the Center for Comparative Study on Race and Ethnicity. She is the author or editor of several books, including, most recently, The Archaeology of Ethnogenesis: Race, Sexuality, and Identity in Colonial San Francisco; The Archaeology of Chinese Immigrant and Chinese American Communities (co-edited with Bryn Williams) and Archaeologies of Sexuality (co-edited with Robert A. Schmidt).

Eleanor Conlin Casella is Senior Lecturer in Archaeology at the University of Manchester, where she is also affiliated with the Centre for Research on Socio-Cultural Change. She has directed archaeological projects in Australia, North America, northwest England and the Scottish Highlands. She is the author or editor of several books, including, most recently, The Alderley Sandhills Project: An Archaeology of Community Life in (Post)-Industrial England, The Archaeology of Institutional Confinement, The Archaeology of Plural and Changing Identities and Industrial Archaeology: Future Directions.