Considering Multiscalar Approaches to Creolization Among Enslaved Laborers at Estate Bethlehem, St. Croix, US Virgin Islands

Abstract

Archaeological studies of plantations need to consider the scale of the historical circumstances which shape locally circumscribed Creole processes. These circumstances range from broad generalizations down to factors operating only at the local level of the individual estate. Recent excavations at Estate Lower Bethlehem, St. Croix, Virgin Islands, have recovered an artifact assemblage from a laborer village dating from the mid-eighteenth century to the first quarter of the nineteenth century, which was situated adjacent to a previously unrecorded cemetery and a large tamarind tree. This assemblage illustrates the importance of a multiscalar approach to Creolization in two ways: an analysis of the distribution of vessel forms of European pottery and "Afro-Cruzan" earthenwares; and the identification of fragments of lead-glazed slip-decorated redware pottery produced by Moravians.Recent research adopting a Creolization perspective stresses the historical context of Creolization as a model of culture change (

An Archaeology of Struggle: Material Remnants of a Double Consciousness in the American South and Danish Caribbean Communities

“…The current research can be placed within the larger context of African Diaspora archaeology that reaches far beyond the earliest searches for Africanisms (Fairbanks ) and begins to incorporate social theories on creolization, ethnogenesis, or the formation of a unique cultural identity, as well as the interpretation of artifacts and patterns of consumption as expressions of “embedded identities,” agency, and imagination (Hauser and Armstrong , 65; Kellar ; Lenik ; Minkoff ; Mullins ; Singleton ; Weik ). Connecting concrete objects in the material world to intangible and fluid concepts such as cultural identity is a common methodology across the field of archaeology, as these objects can serve as visible symbols of culture to anchor these ideas that would otherwise remain invisible to present day society (Kellar ).…”

“…Similar archaeology projects concerning African Diaspora sites on the island of St. Croix have highlighted the impact that historical and social trends have on material culture patterns and creolization processes. Stephan Lenik's () investigation of enslaved laborers at Estate Lower Bethlehem, St. Croix, Virgin Islands, revealed that a multiscalar approach was needed when describing artifacts that are placed in the context of a multicultural creolized society such as St. Croix. He analyzed both Afro‐Crucian coarse earthenware and European ceramics to highlight the existence of local, regional, and international trade networks that were expressed in these different categories of ceramics (Lenik ).…”

“…Stephan Lenik's () investigation of enslaved laborers at Estate Lower Bethlehem, St. Croix, Virgin Islands, revealed that a multiscalar approach was needed when describing artifacts that are placed in the context of a multicultural creolized society such as St. Croix. He analyzed both Afro‐Crucian coarse earthenware and European ceramics to highlight the existence of local, regional, and international trade networks that were expressed in these different categories of ceramics (Lenik ). His study echoes previous research that stresses the need to use multiple spatial scales that include household, plantation, and even inter‐island exchange systems in the interpretation of artifacts and the life ways of enslaved peoples (Wilkie and Farnsworth , ).…”

Historical Archaeologies of Capitalism

“…In particular, studies have highlighted the significance of household activities , village household organization , the use of gardens and provision grounds (Pulsipher 1994;Handler and Wallman 2014), foodways (Armstrong 1999), ceramic production, consumption, and markets (Wilkie 1999(Wilkie , 2000Loftfield 2001;Hauser , 2011aFinch 2013;Lenik 2009), religious beliefs and burial practices (Handler and Lange 1978), alcohol consumption (Smith 2008a), marronage (Agorsah 2007), localized economic activities (Gibson 2009;Handler and Wallman 2014;Galle 2011), acts of resistance (Delle , 2014, and the creation of localized "creole" cultures (Armstrong 2003;Kelly 2008), to name a few. As a framework, archaeologists have utilized a multiscalar approach to demonstrate the active roles played by the enslaved in forging lives for themselves that challenged planter control and, via these escapes, offered them access to diverse socioeconomic realms.…”

“…As a framework, archaeologists have utilized a multiscalar approach to demonstrate the active roles played by the enslaved in forging lives for themselves that challenged planter control and, via these escapes, offered them access to diverse socioeconomic realms. As such, multiscalar approaches operate economically to illustrate the dialectical relationship between the local and global in emergent networks of Atlantic world capitalism in addition to positioning "the individual within broader social milieu" (Hauser 2009, p. 4; see also Curet and Hauser 2011;Lenik 2009;Hauser and Hicks 2007).…”