“Who Hears the Cry of the Wailing Women?”: Discourses on Livelihood Activities and the Challenges of Internally Displaced Women in Nigeria

In this paper, we examine the livelihoods and daily challenges of internally displaced women (IDW) in the New Kuchingoro Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) camp in Abuja, Nigeria. We discuss strategies that have the potential to help create successful livelihoods, and we listen to the views of displaced women on how effective they think these strategies might be. We also examine the social and economic factors forcing IDW to develop resilience and highlight the dire social burdens which these women carry with them. Previous studies concerning livelihood activities of IDW in IDPs camps have emphasized distress, hardship, neediness, deprivation, and general inability to cope with prevailing conditions. Although we stress the resilience of these women, our research reveals failure by the government and other agencies to adequately support strategies employed by IDW to support themselves and their families

Ceramics and change. An overview of pottery production

In southern African Iron Age studies, there are few attempts to systematically apply and include laboratory analyses when studying archaeological ceramic materials. As demonstrated in this paper, such analyses help to understand technological aspects such as raw materials, manufacturing techniques and vessel function. Combined with vessel shape and decoration as well as ethnographic studies the results provide new ways to understand local and regional distribution networks of the ceramics craft. Furthermore, laboratory analyses are most useful when studying continuity and changes in the ceramics handicraft over time, which has implications both on cultural and social change as seen in the shift in ceramic production techniques. We use examples from Zimbabwe and South Africa to illustrate these changes, and discuss them in a broader social and technological context in Iron Age southern Africa

The future of archaeology in Africa

The 14th Congress of the Pan African Archaeological Association for Prehistory and Related Studies, and the 22nd Biennial Meeting of the Society of Africanist Archaeologists were hosted by the University of theWitwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa from the 14–18 of July 2014. Keynote speakers offered insights into the state of archaeology as a discipline in Africa; they acknowledged its diverse and wide-ranging scope, and the achievement of scientific advances in investigating the African past, but they also noted a number of challenges confronting the discipline. These included persistent barriers to the investigation of the past. For example, Africa’s past continues to be interpreted in exotic terms, following Anglo-American academic traditions. By this, I mean that the archaeology syllabus and research agenda in Africa still follows the model set by British,North American and, to some extent, mainland European universities. The academic curriculum remains weak in terms of decolonising the discipline, and it is largely unable to challenge the dominant theoretical and even philosophical positions, which have prevailed since the rapid development of archaeology as a discipline in the twentieth century. Poverty among African societies and the largely poor African economies provides an uncomfortable setting within which archaeology is practised; this naturally raises questions about how much financial priority should be afforded to investigating the past. Coupled with this are the serious, and escalating, political and security challenges afflicting the continent. These barriers need to be broken down; a continent-wide approach is required to achieve this end.http://antiquity.ac.uk2016-12-31hb201

Peter Garlake (1934–2011), great Zimbabwe and the politics of the past in Zimbabwe

No Abstracthttp://www.tandf.co.uk/journals/razahb2013cp201

Great Zimbabwe in historical archaeology : reconceptualizing decline, abandonment, and reoccupation of an ancient polity, A.D. 1450 - 1900

A recent anthropological critique of the archaeology and cultural heritage management of Great Zimbabwe refers to “the silence of unheard voices and untold stories,” “the unrepresented pasts of local communities,” and “the silence of anger—the alienation—and desecration of Great Zimbabwe” (Fontein 2006). Fontein sees a lack of representation of local histories, not only in the literature, but also in museum displays and in the archaeological narratives (Pikirayi 2001), including heritage management reports (Ndoro 2005). Admittedly, this is one of the reasons why Great Zimbabwe is a contested site and cultural landscape. In this paper it is argued that Great Zimbabwe’s contribution to the understanding of the origins of later Karanga and other regional histories is poorly understood. Archaeology, in collaboration with other disciplines, can play a useful role in writing the story of Great Zimbabwe and—in keeping with the plenary session themes—relating it to other transformative global developments of the early modern era, when the site was clearly experiencing decline and eventual abandonment. Detailed local histories, though useful in understanding sociopolitical dynamics on the Zimbabwe Plateau, may account for the invisibility of Great Zimbabwe since A.D. 1550 until its “discovery” by Europeans during the late 19th century. Underlying these processes is the failure by archaeologists to understand decline or collapse of a sociopolitical system once based at Great Zimbabwe, and its global implications.https://sha.org/publications/historical-archaeology-journalam2017Anthropology and Archaeolog

Retrieving intangibility, stemming biodiversity loss : the case of sacred places in Venda, northern South Africa

Sacred sites and landscapes mirror indigenous peoples’ identity, well-being and sense of place. In Venda, northern South Africa, such places are preserved through myths and legends. Following a scoping study, which also involved engagement with indigenous communities, we reveal how human-driven destruction of biodiversity contributes towards significant losses of such heritage. Large-scale agriculture, mining and commercial plantations around Thathe forest, Lake Fundudzi and Phiphidi waterfalls are not only destroying these places, but also impoverishing indigenous peoples. This is not sustainable from the perspective of heritage conservation, survival and wellbeing of indigenous communities. Recognising intangible values expressed through myths and legends is necessary in heritage conservation and in addressing some of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).https://www.mdpi.com/journal/heritageam2022Anthropology and Archaeolog

The travail and feasibility of returning home of Gwoza women in New Kuchingoro internally displaced persons camp, Nigeria

The lived experiences of women in Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) camps are poorly understood despite the centrality of this issue in discourses on victims’ experiences. This study examines the travail of Gwoza women in New Kuchingoro IDPs camp in Abuja, Nigeria. It attempts to identify the survival strategies adopted by women and the possibility of their returning home, in northeastern Nigeria. The study adopted a qualitative research design utilising both primary and secondary data. Insights for data analyses were drawn from transactional theory of stress and coping strategies. The study reveals that Gwoza women rely largely on humanitarian aid from NGOs, while the federal government has largely failed to fulfil that role. Reliance on subsistence farming and humanitarian aid implies that their coping or survival strategy is only tentative. Gwoza women also regard the issue of security as a source of livelihood crucial to their survival, which they are unlikely to get should they return home where they will be exposed to attacks by the insurgent Boko Haram. Moreover, the Nigerian government has not given them any assurance on the provision of adequate security and means of livelihood upon return. They are thus compelled to remain in camp.https://journals.sagepub.com/home/jashj2022Anthropology and Archaeolog

Debating great Zimbabwe

We are humbled by Huffman’s acknowledgement of our contribution to the archaeology of Great Zimbabwe (Chirikure and Pikirayi 2008) and his spirit of constructive debate (Huffman 2010). Any reasonable scholar cannot deny the positive influence that his research has had on the archaeology of Great Zimbabwe. However, research is not just about reaffirming what has been done; it is more about reinterrogating the data even if it means swinging the pendulum of knowledge violently to push back the frontiers of knowledge. Often, some scholars seem reluctant to accept new thinking that contradicts what they believed earlier. As Martin Hall (1996, 6) once remarked, ‘facts like kings are no longer absolute, they cannot sustain themselves forever’. Hall was implying that without a detailed interrogation of both old and new data, there is really no point in doing research. With Great Zimbabwe the extremes would be that cognitive structuralism has explained everything so we do not need to study the site at all or that we should close our minds to new insights that put strong dents in the dominant interpretative reconstructions.http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals/raz

Repatriating more than Mapungubwe human remains : archaeological material culture, a shared future and an artificially divided past

Apartheid's lingering ghost ensures that repatriation processes in South Africa are complex. Apartheid ideology not only separated black and white, but also made ethnicity the prime identity for Africans, many of whom internalised it. South Africa's ethicised past ensured that the process of repatriating Mapungubwe human remains was framed in ethnic terms. This resulted in quarrels between claimant communities, who tried to authenticate their claims by proving sole ownership of the human remains. In this potentially volatile context archaeologists were not only negotiating responsible repatriation, but also had to consider their role in a divided present, as squabbles over repatriation could harm both the dead and the living. Fluid group membership involved in the negotiation for the return of human remains from Mapungubwe meant that it would be difficult to exclude any claimants. It was therefore agreed that conflicting oral traditions should be viewed as equal, even when not supported by archaeological data. This acceptance of multivocality resulted in a joint claim by representatives of the Mapungubwe descendants.http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/cjca2

A conversation with Peter Ridgway Schmidt, the Sango of African archaeology

http://link.springer.com/journal/104372021-07-06hj2020Anthropology and Archaeolog