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“Mo té la”: Building Community-Engaged Plantation Archaeology in Guyane

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Abstract

Archaeology in Guyane takes place within a neocolonial framework. While still generally a public pursuit, archaeological projects rarely deploy explicit strategies for involving communities in research. Archéo La Caroline: Lavi Nou Gangan is an ongoing initiative centered on the first and only university-based archeological investigation of a village for enslaved Africans in Guyane. The project actively engages multiple, overlapping stakeholders—Afro-Guianese, Indigenous, and French—in addition to local and international teams of researchers. This paper discusses efforts to engage the broader Afro-Guianese community through structured site visits to Habitation La Caroline, thereby laying the foundation for future community-based archaeology projects.

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Acknowledgments

My sincerest appreciation to everyone who visited La Caroline in 2018 and 2019, whose participation and feedback have helped inform the ongoing development of Moun’Cayenne site visits. Particular thanks to the Association Walyku, the Association Konnèt To Péyi, the Association Intermuña, and the Association Kopena, as well as Lara Passos, Raphaëlle Servius-Harmois, Marvin Yamb, Cinthia Mac Derby, Marie-Sandrine Bacoul, Aurelie Lucas, Tomy Lucas, and Jasper Colt. Camille Westmont, Alicia Odewale, and Gabby Hartemann provided constructive comments on earlier versions of this paper, for which I am grateful. Finally, special recognition to Gabby Hartemann for “finding me in a grave” back in 2014.

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    Elizabeth C. Clay

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Clay, E.C. “Mo té la”: Building Community-Engaged Plantation Archaeology in Guyane. Int J Histor Archaeol 26, 211–241 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10761-021-00625-4

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