Culture contact, continuity, and change on the Gold Coast, AD 1400–1900

Transnational artifacts: Grappling with fluid material origins and identities in archaeological interpretations of culture change

“…Recent studies documenting adoption of European material culture by indigenous peoples and other minority ethnic groups commonly emphasize cultural persistence over loss of cultural identity, and propose that many introduced objects are incorporated into established behavioral and belief systems using an internal cultural logic (e.g., Agbe-Davies, 2007;Cusick, 1998;DeCorse, 1992;Rubertone, 2000;Silliman, 2001Silliman, , 2005Wilkie, 2000). This process of recontextualization is typically cast as a response to or set against the backdrop of unequal power relations rooted in racism and negotiations between structure and agency in particular colonial settings.…”

Keeping the Devil at Bay: The Shoe on the Coffin Lid and Other Grave Charms in Nineteenth- and Early Twentieth-century America

“…Elmina was an African settlement prior to European contact, but later became the Dutch headquarters in the Gold Coast. It served as such until 1872, when the Dutch ceded their claims to the region to the British (DeCorse 1992(DeCorse , 2001. Approximately 200 burials (spanning the 1400s to the abandonment of the site in 1873) were excavated.…”

Heterogeneity, power, and political economy: Some current research issues in the archaeology of Old World complex societies

“…Kenoyer (1991b) has studied the style and distribution of decorative ornaments from archaeological contexts and in depictions on terracotta figurines as a way to investigate broader aspects of Harappan social identity. Ethnicity has been examined through zooarchaeologieal studies of food preferences and taboos (Crabtree, 1990;DeCorse, 1992;Hesse, 1991Hesse, , 1995. Ceramic style also has been used to study ethnieity (David et al, 1991;Emberling, 1995;MacEachern, 1992), although several ethnoarchaeological studies suggest that stylistic variation may not always be the best form of evidence for this purpose (see, e.g., Dietler and Herbich, 1994;Sterner, 1989).…”