Lydia Wilson


Lydia Wilson Entered 2004
Archaeology Regional focus: Africa. Topical interests: Fugitive slaves, historical archaeology, household archaeology, public archaeology, community formation, multi-ethnic communities, My dissertation project centers on the archaeological investigation of settlements founded in 19th-century Kenya by people escaping slavery. It specifically considers the economic insularity and cultural heterogeneity of fugitive slave groups relative to the coastal hinterland communities that neighbored them. In the mid-19th century, intensification of cash-crop agriculture on the Eastern African coast by Omani colonists and Swahili indigenes provoked an upsurge in the local slave trade. As the coastal plantation economy solidified, increasing numbers of enslaved people fled to the hinterland. In Swahili, such fugitives were known as watoro. Watoro typically fled alone, brought few to no material possessions with them, and bore diverse cultural and social backgrounds. My dissertation research investigates the creation of watoro communities through a dual focus on inter- and intra-group relationships. It explores the position of these nascent communities in regional economic networks. The project also investigates whether fugitive slaves developed homogenized group norms or, alternately, maintained long-term cultural heterogeneity. The above inquiries will be evaluated through an archaeological comparison of watoro settlements with villages of neighboring Mijikenda peoples in the coastal hinterland. Relying on Mijikenda settlements as alternate examples of 19th-century rural Eastern African life, the project will explore how the status of watoro as refugees from enslavement shaped the economic, social, and cultural organization of their villages. Indices targeted in this investigation include diet, trade, craft production, house style, and spatial organization of domestic activities. MA Paper: A Historical Archaeology of Fugitive Slaves and Enslaved Plantation Workers in 19th-Century Kenya Publications: 2004. (with Simon Gatheru.) Making and Using Stone Tools: Outdoor Interpretation Programme at Kariandusi Museum. Nairobi: National Museums of Kenya. 2003. Making and Using Stone Tools: An Interactive Educational Programme at Kariandusi Museum. Kenya Past and Present. 34: 43-6. (with Simon Gatheru). Presentations: 2007. "Composing Communities: Fugitive Slaves in 19th-Century Coastal Eastern Africa." In the conference entitled Old World/New World: Culture in Transformation, Society for Historical Archaeology, Williamsburg, VA. 2006. "Fugitive Slave Communities of 19th-Century Kenya: Potential Archaeological Contributions to Local, Regional, and Interregional Conceptions of Slavery." In the conference entitled Maritime Heritage of the Western Indian Ocean, British Institute in Eastern Africa and the British Museum, Zanzibar.

Entered 2004

Archaeology

Regional focus: Africa.

Topical interests: Fugitive slaves, historical archaeology, household archaeology, public archaeology, community formation, multi-ethnic communities,

My dissertation project centers on the archaeological investigation of settlements founded in 19th-century Kenya by people escaping slavery. It specifically considers the economic insularity and cultural heterogeneity of fugitive slave groups relative to the coastal hinterland communities that neighbored them. In the mid-19th century, intensification of cash-crop agriculture on the Eastern African coast by Omani colonists and Swahili indigenes provoked an upsurge in the local slave trade. As the coastal plantation economy solidified, increasing numbers of enslaved people fled to the hinterland. In Swahili, such fugitives were known as watoro. Watoro typically fled alone, brought few to no material possessions with them, and bore diverse cultural and social backgrounds. My dissertation research investigates the creation of watoro communities through a dual focus on inter- and intra-group relationships. It explores the position of these nascent communities in regional economic networks. The project also investigates whether fugitive slaves developed homogenized group norms or, alternately, maintained long-term cultural heterogeneity.

The above inquiries will be evaluated through an archaeological comparison of watoro settlements with villages of neighboring Mijikenda peoples in the coastal hinterland. Relying on Mijikenda settlements as alternate examples of 19th-century rural Eastern African life, the project will explore how the status of watoro as refugees from enslavement shaped the economic, social, and cultural organization of their villages. Indices targeted in this investigation include diet, trade, craft production, house style, and spatial organization of domestic activities.

MA Paper: A Historical Archaeology of Fugitive Slaves and Enslaved Plantation Workers in 19th-Century Kenya

Publications:

2004. (with Simon Gatheru.) Making and Using Stone Tools: Outdoor Interpretation Programme at Kariandusi Museum. Nairobi: National Museums of Kenya.

2003. Making and Using Stone Tools: An Interactive Educational Programme at Kariandusi Museum. Kenya Past and Present. 34: 43-6. (with Simon Gatheru).

Presentations:

2007. "Composing Communities: Fugitive Slaves in 19th-Century Coastal Eastern Africa." In the conference entitled Old World/New World: Culture in Transformation, Society for Historical Archaeology, Williamsburg, VA.

2006. "Fugitive Slave Communities of 19th-Century Kenya: Potential Archaeological Contributions to Local, Regional, and Interregional Conceptions of Slavery." In the conference entitled Maritime Heritage of the Western Indian Ocean, British Institute in Eastern Africa and the British Museum, Zanzibar.