Trade and the Construction of Bahamian Identity: A Multiscalar Exploration

Authors: Wilkie L.A.¹; Farnsworth P.²

Source: International Journal of Historical Archaeology, Volume 03, Number 4, December 1999 , pp. 283-320(38)

Publisher: Springer

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Abstract:

Using ceramic data, we explore how a multiscalar approach, framed within Giddens' Theory of Structuration, can lead to a more complete understanding of the construction of New World Creole identities. The two scales of analysis serve to inform one another. We draw upon archaeological and historical data from five plantation sites located on three islands of the Bahamas. On the macroscale level, we demonstrate how regional trade networks limited or facilitated access to ceramics and shaped the ways that individual planters used these goods to construct statements about wealth and prestige. A microscale analysis of ceramics recovered from six slave households demonstrates how families with complete market access used ceramics as a means of creating a sense of community identity and mediating tensions within the quarters.

Keywords: structuration theory; identity; ceramics; Bahamas

Language: English

Document Type: Research article

Affiliations: 1: Department of Anthropology, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720 2: Department of Geography and Anthropology, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana 70803

Publication date: 1999-12-01