The Dynamics of West African Village Life

Ann Stahl

Department of Anthropology

University of Victoria

 

It is easy for the casual observer to imagine that village life in West Africa has changed little over the centuries. The presence of earthen-walled structures, grass-thatched roofs and ongoing production of traditional crafts lends the impression that change has been recent and superficial. Yet West African societies have been enmeshed in global networks from the early second millennium AD – first through trans-Saharan exchange that linked sub-Saharan West Africa with the Mediterranean world; later through Atlantic networks that linked “Old” and “New” worlds; and, from the later 17th century, through formal colonial networks. For more than two decades the Banda Research Project has investigated the effects of these connections on daily life in the Banda area of west central Ghana. Ann Stahl will highlight what has been learned from archaeological evidence about the dynamism of West African village life, focusing particularly on the results of 2008 excavations at a site linked to Saharan trade.

 

Ann Stahl is a recent addition to the anthropology faculty at UVic where she is Professor and Chair. From 1988 to 2008 she was on the anthropology faculty at the State University of New York at Binghampton and prior to that taught at the Institute of Archaeology, University College, London (1985-88). She holds a PhD in Anthropology fro UC Berkley and an MA in Archaeology from the University of Calgary. She has published numerous book chapters and journal articles on her work in Banda in addition to a 2001 Cambridge University Press book entitled “Making History in Banda. Anthropological Perspectives on Africa’s Past.”  Her 2005 edited collection on African Archaeology published by Blackwell was awarded the 2006 ‘best book’ award by the Society for Africanist Archaeologists. She looks forward to learning more about BC archaeology and is pleased for the opportunity to share her work with us.

 

TUESDAY, October 21st, 2008 7:30 PM

PACIFIC FORESTRY CENTRE

506 West Burnside Road, Victoria, B.C.

For more information visit: www.asbc.bc.ca/vicsite/

Or call (250) 382-1448 or  email: asbcvictoria@gmail.com

 

Directions to the venue: http://cfs.nrcan.gc.ca/regions/map/pfc