The Department of Anthropology Welcomes Dr. Matthew C. Reilly as our Fall 2020 Visiting Anthropologist

The Department of Anthropology would like to welcome Dr. Matthew C. Reilly, Assistant Professor of Anthropology, Gender Studies, and International Studies at the City College of New York and the CUNY Graduate Center, for our Fall 2020 Visiting Anthropologist Lecture Series. 

"Race, Slavery, and Freedom from the West Indies to West Africa"

Wednesday, October 28, 2020

4:45pm via Zoom

The 1865 sailing of the Cora, from the Caribbean island of Barbados to the newly-created African nation of Liberia, marked a significant moment in colonial, Atlantic-world history. Carrying 346 African-descendant subjects of the British empire, the migrants on board, many of them formerly enslaved, were part of a colonizing mission to repatriate sons and daughters of Africa who would simultaneously assist in building a civilized, industrious, and Christian nation. These intrepid settlers carried with them worldviews based on the lived realities of a racialized, colonial plantation society in the West Indies. Building on archaeological research in Barbados surrounding race-formation processes and whiteness, this talk explores how conceptualizations of race figured prominently in the world that these migrants left behind and the world they hoped to build in West Africa. Through analyses of the archaeological record, archival sources, the landscape, and oral histories, the transatlantic research projects discussed reveal the complexities of how West Indians and West Africans navigated the spectrum of slavery and freedom, including how these historical processes continue to affect life in post-conflict Liberia today.

Here is how you can access the lecture:

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