In the text you read, how does thinking about objects or artifacts reinforce ideas about social structure or social roles?
For this weeks reading, I chose Mahoney’s, Faced With Courage. the ‘objects’ represented in this article were physical landmarks that held a lot of African American history. some of the issues with these archaeological sites that held so much history of the African American culture during the enslavement and segregation eras is that it is difficult to interpret. Since it was such a painful part of the American History, over time it has been easier for the American people to ignore or deny the culture. Covering up, ignoring, and/or erasing important historical landmarks is reinforcing that the social structure of the past is carried from generation to generation. It basically is like not addressing the elephant in the room. ‘In the 1970’s, the National Park Service forced Uniontown residents out of the area so that they could develop a park devoted to Yorktown Battlefield and interpretation of the American Revolutionary War,’ (Mahoney, 2015). The interviewee felt it was an ‘ethnic cleansing’ of the African American history of the county. Today, many African Americans feel as if they never got their equality and feel as if they were brushed under the rug because it was such a painful period of history.
What kinds of stories do the objects discussed tell about the cultures they come from?
When The New York African Burial Ground (NYABG) was founded in 1991, there was a momument built with the symbol called the Sankofa and a scripture, ‘For all those who were lost, for all those who were stolen, for all those who were left behind, for all those who were not forgotten,’ (Mahoney, 2015). This represents a big part of the African American history during enslavement and the memorial was contributed to those individuals. the significance of the Sankofa symbol to represent the past, present, and future of the African American culture. The community also fought for this momument to be built to ensure it wouldnt be another piece of history buried and swept under the rug like it never happened, and to teach the future generations about the history and the significance of the NYABG.
What value does thinking about objects bring to a fuller anthropological consideration of the issues being discussed? What would be lost without it?
Fighting not to cover up the bad and the ugly parts of American History plays a huge role in understanding anthropology. to fuller understand a culture, you need to know the history. if you cover certain aspects up, you arent really getting a full understanding of the culture. From enslavement and segregation, to the MLK’s Freedom Movement, all plays a large role in African Americans fight for equality and how America is now shifted to present-day, the ‘Melting Pot’.
