Frontiers of Colonialism - by Christine D Beaule (Hardcover)

About the Book

For decades archaeologists have limited studies of frontiers and colonialism to a single polity, empire, or epoch. This has been especially true of historical archaeologists; but in this intriguing collection, Beaule assembles archaeologists from around the world to determine the commonalities and differences of colonialism across the self-imposed divide of contact v. pre-contact. The work considers the expanding frontiers of the Romans, Iroquois, Egyptians, Filipinos, and the more familiar Mayan and Incan empires. The goal of this volume is to expand the theoretical interpretations and perspectives to all archaeologists working in frontier/colonial contexts, not just those of the European empires.

Book Synopsis

Featuring case studies of prehistoric and historic sites from Mesoamerica, China, the Philippines, the Pacific, Egypt, and elsewhere, Frontiers of Colonialism makes the surprising claim that colonialism can and should be compared across radically different time periods and locations. This volume challenges archaeologists to rethink the two major dichotomies of European versus non-European and prehistoric versus historic colonialism, which can be limiting, self-imposed boundaries. By bringing together contributors working in different regions and time periods, this volume examines the variability in colonial administrative strategies, local forms of resistance to cultural assimilation, hybridized cultural traditions, and other cross-cultural interactions within a global, comparative framework. Taken together these essays argue that crossing these frontiers of study will give anthropologists, archaeologists, and historians more power to recognize and explain the highly varied local impacts of colonialism. Contributors: Kenneth M. Ames Grace Barretto‐Tesoro Christine D. Beaule Geoffrey Clark Kirk E. Costion Vito Hernandez Richard Hingley Nicholas Hudson Tianlong Jiao Eric Jones Adam Kaeding Mohamed Kenawi Robert J. Littman Ulrike Matthies Green Victor Paz Jay Silverstein Cameron M. Smith Douglas C. Wilson

Review Quotes

"A welcome addition. [This book] move[s] forward scholarly conversations in archaeology about how best to conceptualize and to understand colonialism and its myriad effects on past societies."--American Antiquity

About the Author

Christine d. Beaule is associate professor of Latin American and Iberian Studies at the University of Hawai'i at Mānoa.