Arch of African-American Life and Culture [AFA 3360]

Fall 2012
Little Hall Room 233
MWF Period 3 (9:35am -- 10:25am)
Instructor: James M. Davidson, Ph.D.
Office: Turlington B134
Email: davidson@ufl.edu
Office Hours: Monday 2 – 5 pm (and by appointment)

Description: This course is designed to present a historical overview of the field of African-American archaeology, starting with the first scientific excavations in the 1940s. Participants will obtain knowledge of important case studies, key figures, major issues, and the overall development of the discipline. Theoretical, methodological, and ethical issues will be addressed. Through lectures, I will introduce the readings and provide broad overviews of the overarching topics and issues within the field of African-American Archaeology. A good portion of class time, however, will be spent discussing and critiquing the readings.

1. James Deetz 1996 In Small Things Forgotten: An Archaeology of Early American Life. Anchor (Revised and Expanded edition)

2. Singleton, Theresa (editor) 1999 “I, Too, Am America”: Archaeological Studies of African-American Life. University Press of Virginia, Charlottesville.

3. Electronic documents, comprising key articles and book chapters, will be posted and downloadable as .pdf files from a university server.

Requirements: There will be two non cumulative exams, the format of which will be a mixture of objective questions (e.g., true false, multiple choice, etc), and one or more short answer or essay questions. There will also be a final exam (cumulative). Participation in class discussions is expected. Each student’s input will be especially crucial, since this will be a small class. Students are expected to have read the readings for that day, and come to class prepared to discuss them.

The writing component for this class is satisfied by three critical response essays on key readings to be assigned throughout the semester. Each essay will be three (maximum four) pages in length, double spaced, 12 point font, and one-inch margins. These will be corrected and returned with comments.

Exams 1 and 2 (20% each)                             40%
Critical response essays (three total)             30%
Attendance/Class Participation                       10%
Final Exam (comprehensive)                           20%

A final letter grade will be assigned at the end of the semester, according to this scale:

A         (93-100%)
A-        (90-92%)
B+       (88-89%)
B         (83-87%)
B-        (80-82%)
C+       (78-79%)
C         (73-77%)
C-        (70-72%)
D+       (68-69%)
D         (63-67%)
D-        (60-62%)
E          (59% or below)

Attendance: Regular attendance is expected. Excessive unexcused absences will detract from the student’s final grade (see above).

Make-up Exams:
If an exam is missed, and the absence was pre-arranged, or in the event of illness accompanied by a physician’s note, a make-up exam will be given. No make-up exams will be given for students who miss the testing period due to unexcused absences.

Accommodating Students with Disabilities:
Students requesting classroom accommodation must first register with the Dean of Students Office. The Dean of Students Office will provide documentation to the student, who in turn must provide this documentation to me when requesting accommodation.

Academic Honesty:

The University reminds every student of the implied pledge of Academic Honesty: “on any work submitted for credit the student has neither received nor given unauthorized aid.”

THIS REFERS TO CHEATING AND PLAGIARISM, AND IT WILL NOT BE TOLERATED IN THIS CLASS.

Consult the Student Guide at http://www.dso.ufl.edu/sccr/honorcodes/honorcode.php
for further information.

Deetz’s “In Small Things Forgotten”; Pioneering works and “Plantation Studies”

Week 4 (September 10-14) Pioneering works and “Plantation Studies” (continued)

Week 6 (September 24-28) Critiques of “Plantation Studies” (continued); Race, culture, ethnicity

******Final Exam ******
Final Exam Period (13C): Thursday December 13 --- 12:30 to 2:30 pm

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Singleton, Theresa and Mark D. Bograd
1995 The African Experience in America: A Brief Overview. In The Archaeology of the African Diaspora in the Americas. Guides to the Archaeological Literature of the Immigrant Experience in America, Number 2. The Society for Historical Archaeology

Warren Perry and Robert Paynter
“Artifacts, Ethnicity, and the Archaeology of African Americans”
(Chapter 15 in Theresa Singleton’s edited volume)

James Deetz’s (1996) book, In Small Things Forgotten: An Archaeology of Early American Life.

James Deetz
“Archaeology at Flowerdew Hundred”
(Chapter 3 in Theresa Singleton’s edited volume)

Bullen, Adelaide K. And Ripley P. Bullen
1945 Black Lucy’s Garden. Bulletin of the Massachusetts Archaeological Society 6(2):17-28.

Otto, John Solomon
1980 Race and Class on Antebellum Plantations. In Archaeological Perspectives on Ethnicity in America: Afro-American and Asian American Culture History, edited by Robert L. Schuyler, pp. 3-13. Baywood Publishing Co, Farmingdale, NY.

Ferguson, Leland
1980 Looking for the “Afro” in Colono-Indian Pottery. In Archaeological Perspectives on Ethnicity in America: Afro-American and Asian American Culture History, edited by Robert L. Schuyler, pp. 14-28. Baywood Publishing Co, Farmingdale, NY

Leland Ferguson “The Cross is a Magic Sign”: Marks on Eighteenth Century Bowls in South Carolina.
(Chapter 6 in Theresa Singleton’s edited volume)

Christopher R. DeCorse
“Oceans Apart: Africanist Perspectives of Diaspora Archaeology.”
(Chapter 7 in Theresa Singleton’s edited volume)

Leone, Mark P. and Gladys-Marie Fry
2001 Spirit Management among Americans of African Descent. In Race and the Archaeology of Identity, edited by Charles E. Orser Jr., pp. 143-157. The University of Utah Press, Salt Lake City.

Blakely, Robert L., and Lane A. Beck
1982 Bioarchaeology in the Urban Context. In Archaeology of Urban America: The Search for Pattern and Process, edited by Roy S. Dickens, Jr., pp. 175-207. Academic Press, New York.

Edward A. Chappell
“Museums and American Slavery”
(Chapter 12 in Theresa Singleton’s edited volume)

Davidson, James M.
2012 Encountering the Ex-Slave Reparations Movement from the Grave: The National Industrial Council and National Liberty Party, 1901-1907. The Journal of African American History 97(1-2):13-38.

REVIEWSHEET FOR FINAL EXAM (WORD DOCUMENT DOWNLOAD HERE) (PDF Version DOWNLOAD HERE)