Dr. Tiffany Fryer
Cotsen Postdoctoral Fellow, Princeton Society of Fellows, Princeton University
Wednesday January 27th, 12:00pm (PT)

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Dr. Tracie Mayfield, Lecturer, Department of Anthropology, University of Southern California
Wednesday, December 2nd, 12:00pm - 1:00pm PT

During the nineteenth-century, Latin America was a hotbed of trade and commerce driven principally by extractive industries such as agriculture (principally sugar) and hardwood collection. Such ventures required large injections of capital into the creation and maintenance of productive landscapes as well as for hiring, housing, and feeding the workers who provided labor and management. This presentation will explore two such sites in Belize.  Lamanai, an inland site, which is located in what is now the Orange Walk District of northwestern Belize and San Pedro Town, which is located off the coast of Belize on Ambergris Caye. During the nineteenth-century British colonists established settlements at these sites: at Lamanai, to plant sugar cane and harvest logwood and mahogany and, on Ambergris Caye to cultivate a coconut plantation. Along with wild fauna, chicken, beef, and bottled, canned, or barreled products such as soda water, salted pork, and potted meat, the residents of nineteenth-century Lamanai and San Pedro Town were also active consumers of tobacco and bottled alcoholic beverages. In addition, earned labor money was used to purchase bottled medicines, health and hygiene products (e.g. chamber pots), and wearable objects such as buttons and boot heels. Here we compare and contrast these two contemporary sites, situated in very different landscapes, but both within the Latin American, British colonial-industrial complex. 





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Dr. Danielle Candelora, Assistant Professor, History Department, SUNY Courtland
Wednesday, November 4th, 12:00pm - 1:00pm PT

The Hyksos are often set up as the boogeymen of ancient Egypt - after a violent invasion, these foreign despots ruled the North of Egypt with an iron first, while a native Egyptian family in the South fought for Egypt's liberation. However, archaeological investigation and the reanalysis of ancient texts shows that this narrative is simply political rhetoric created by the Egyptian kings to legitimize their own rule. In reality, the Hyksos were creatively strategic about the display of various aspects of their identities. To become fully Egyptian was never the goal; instead they actively maintained and advertised elements of their origins in order to support their ties to kinship and trade networks in West Asia. These kings were cosmopolitan diplomats who corresponded with much of the Near East and Eastern Mediterranean, and whose capital city was a titan of trade. They adopted and adapted elements of traditional Egyptian kingship, but negotiated these traditions with a West Asian spin, creating a rule uniquely suited to the eastern Delta. Further investigation of the social memory of these kings has even demonstrated that they were considered legitimate kings and the major power in Second Intermediate Period Egypt. In fact, the Hyksos and the West Asian immigrants of the period had a massive impact on Egyptian society, culture, and conceptions of kingship. The archetype of New Kingdom Egypt, considered the apex of ancient Egyptian society, would not have been possible without the influence of these West Asian immigrants or the rule of the Hyksos.

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Dr. Ayana Omilade Flewellen, Assistant Professor, Department of Anthropology, UC Riverside
Wednesday, October 21st, 12:00pm - 1:00pm PT

Amid racialized servitude, sexual exploitation, and economic disenfranchisement, that marked the post-emancipation era in the United States, African American women were styling their hair with combs, lacing glass beads around their necks, dyeing coarse-cotton fabric with indigo-berry and sweetgum bark, and fastening buttons to adorn their bodies and dress their social lives. Through an analysis of material culture and documentary data, Dr. Flewellen’s work examines the complex interplay between structural forms of oppression and agency by focusing on the ways African Diasporic women used dress to negotiate racism, sexual exploitation, and exploitive capitalism from slavery through freedom. This talk will outline the flesh and texture of Black Feminist Archaeology, as a theoretical and methodological framework that centers on the lived experiences of enslaved Africans and their descendants as a means for the production of knowledge. Focusing on Dr. Flewellen’s research on gendered African Diasporic sartorial practices, this presentation aims to articulate Black Feminist Archaeology at the interstices of digital humanities, historical archaeology, and Black feminism. 

Register for this Cotsen Virtual Pizza Talk here! You will receive instructions on viewing the talk after registering.