Historical and Dialectical Perspectives on the Archaeology of Complexity in the Siin-Saalum (Senegal): Back to the Future?

Abstract

Drawing on recent critiques of evolutionism, this article reviews the history of Iron Age studies in Siin-Saalum (Senegal) to examine the construction of African archaeological knowledge. From the 19th century to the 1980's, analyses of complexity in Senegal have been animated by developmentalist views that have portrayed the regional past as a stagnant backwater. In the past 25 years, however, archaeological research has sought to redress these inaccuracies by exploring the diversity and idiosyncracy of African histories, and the processes behind sociopolitical change. These critical agendas can help us exploit the analytic potential of material culture to reincorporate African societies into the stream of world history, and to use the African past to reevaluate current scenarios of complexity and their applicability to various regions of the globe. To achieve these goals, however, and develop a fully self-reflexive archaeology in Senegal, researchers must eschew moral celebrations of African distinctness and strive instead to document how local pasts owe their particular qualities to complex political-economic articulations with other world societies. Concurrently, we must also attend to the dynamics of historical production in and out of guild circles, and consider our entanglement in the making of contemporary 'culture wars.' Because it is ideally suited to probe the historical and material depth of cultural differences and inequalities, archaeology must take a leading role in dispelling essentialist readings of Africa and promoting democratic knowledges about the continent.Résumé S'inspirant du récent regard critique sur l'évolutionnisme, cette article examine la construction de la connaissance archéologique de l'Afrique à la lumière de l'histoire des études de l'Âge du Fer au Siin-Saalum (Sénégal). Entre le 19e siècle et les années 1980, l'analyse de la complexité au Sénégal a été dominée par des idées développementalistes, qui ont fait un portrait statique du passé régional. Néanmoins, au cours des 25 dernières années, la recherche archéologique s'est efforcée de Afr Archaeol Rev (2009) 26:75-135 redresser ces erreurs en étudiant la diversité et les caractéristiques propres aux histoires africaines, et en retraçant les dynamiques de leurs changements sociopolitiques. Ces nouveaux courants théoriques sont intéressants parce qu'ils s'appuient sur la culture matérielle pour réintégrer les sociétés africaines dans la mouvance de l'histoire mondiale, et sur le passé africain pour tester la pertinence des scénarios de complexité en usage et leur application à d'autres régions du globe. Pour atteindre ces objectifs, et contribuer au développement d'une archéologie plus autocritique, il est toutefois nécessaire de pousser la réflexion archéologique au delà d'un éloge moral des anciennes 'cultures' africaines et s'attacher plutôt à comprendre comment le passé africain s'est construit au cours d'une longue histoire d'intéractions économiques et politiques avec les sociétés du monde. En même temps, nous devons exam...

‘Phalaborwa where the hammer is heard’: crafting together the political economy of Iron Age communities in southern Africa, AD 900–1900

“…However, the framework through which the political economy has been addressed in the study of past societies, a topic discussed more fully in Chapter 2, has largely focused on the power strategies and consumption patterns of elites, and is drawn from research conducted primarily at centres of political power (McGuire 1983;Stein 1998;Yoffee 2005). Recent shifts in archaeological approaches to the study of the political economy in both "Old World" and "New World" states reflect a need to consider the mechanisms of the economy more critically, from different vantage points and using multiple scales (Smith 2004;Smith and Schreiber 2005;Stahl 2004;Richard 2009).…”

“…The historical record need not be a template for interpreting the past, but it could be used to generate new ways of critically interacting with archaeological data that may be complementary to the use of archaeological theory. Simular research in West Africa has been critical in demonstrating this (Stahl 1999;Ogundiran 2001;Richard 2009;Norman 2012).…”

“…Of importance is the need to recognise that we cannot assume that exchange relations had expected results. While exchanges between political cores and peripheries, be they via regional or global exchange mechanisms, have been cast into particular models with expected results, critical engagement with the interactions between cores and peripheries and between different regions in global encounters has shown that such interactions can have varied and often unpredictable results, and that the impacts and entanglements of these can be felt differently in different areas (from the coast to the interior, from rural to urban, and so on) (Thomas 1991;Richard 2009;Stahl 2004Stahl , 2010.…”

Practical knowledge and politics of encounter along the Lower Falémé River, Senegambia (c.AD 1500–1925)

“…At the same time, research in this vein has helped give a voice to the 'silent' majority of people such as commoners, women, craftspeople and slaves whose daily lives and experiences offer alternative perspectives on the production of social institutions at scales both global and local (see discussions in Stahl 2001;Schmidt 2006). Here, an archaeological approach to past objects and landscapes, when set in productive tension with written and oral sources, has begun to prove valuable for interpreting diverse social processes (Stahl 2001;Reid and Lane 2004;Schmidt 2006;Richard 2009), including the politics of encounter that emerged along 'internal' frontiers (sensu Kopytoff 1987) further inland from the shores of the Sahara Desert and Atlantic Ocean. Here, an archaeological approach to past objects and landscapes, when set in productive tension with written and oral sources, has begun to prove valuable for interpreting diverse social processes (Stahl 2001;Reid and Lane 2004;Schmidt 2006;Richard 2009), including the politics of encounter that emerged along 'internal' frontiers (sensu Kopytoff 1987) further inland from the shores of the Sahara Desert and Atlantic Ocean.…”

“…For better or worse, this perspective remains largely underdeveloped in the archaeology of encounter in West Africa where emphasis has often lain on the pivotal role of imported objects (Ogundiran 2002;Stahl 2002;Richard 2010). Meanwhile, local crafts, such as earthenware pottery, that do preserve in the archaeological record have conventionally been employed to define time horizons, social boundaries, or both (discussion in Richard 2009). Meanwhile, local crafts, such as earthenware pottery, that do preserve in the archaeological record have conventionally been employed to define time horizons, social boundaries, or both (discussion in Richard 2009).…”