Arqueología Afro-Latinoamericana: temas, problemas y afro-reparación

On September 15 and 16, 2017, the Afro-Latin American Research Institute at the Hutchins Center for African and African American Research at Harvard University hosted a workshop of 20 archaeologists from across the Americas and the Caribbean. Workshop proceedings demonstrate how a focus on Afro-latin America challenges crucial concerns in archaeology. Likewise, workshop discussions showed the transformative contributions that archaeology makes to anthropology and to Afro-Latin American studies, including deeper understanding of the dynamics of African diaspora, racialization, colonialism, early modern economies, social hierarchies and slavery, consumerism, ontologies, biopolitics, aesthetics, cultural heritage, and contemporary struggles for sovereignty. In this paper we delineate the field of Afro-Latin American Archaeology using mainly the debates that took place in our workshop. Our aim is to highlight how Afro-Latin American Archaeology can contribute to anthropology, to Afro-Latin American studies, and to the politics of afro-reparation as well.