Abstract

In On the Move: Mobility in the Modern Western World, Tim Creswell asserts mobility as liberty and freedom began to emerge during the early modern period, 1600-1800 when elites perceived of mobility as a right of the modern citizen. But, for many others, mobility was often controlled and restricted. The mobility of Afro-descendants in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries is an emerging research interest in archaeology. In my overview of this archaeological scholarship, I distinguish between secondary diasporas, case studies of migrations from one place to another place within the Americas, and reverse diasporas—migrations of Afro-descendants back to Africa. As much of this research is ongoing, I raise some possibilities of the material transfers and effects of these movements on building practices, foodways, and spirituality among these resettled communities.

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