Historical East African Archaeology and Theory: A framework for historical archaeology and identity formation

Objetivo

HEAAT aims to develop a 200-year, high-resolution record of material culture and identity change among the Ilchamus community in Kenya from c. 1800 to the present and understand when and why certain objects are chosen as identity markers, why they persist, and when and why changes in daily practices occur. The goal is to contribute to scholarly debate on communal/individual identities and use the Ilchamus case study to establish a data-driven theoretical framework and research agenda for East African historical archaeology. Alternative information sources, the unique past of the region and previous studies demand an adjusted historical archaeology that privileges internal dynamics of local societies, historicises the use of analogies and relates to extant communities.
This theory-focused project includes the investigation of old and new archaeological, archival, oral historical, GIS and other materials already collected, and training in ethnoarchaeology, micromorphology and multivariate statistics bringing together a diverse dataset from which minute social changes can be discerned and related to other events. Special emphasis is put on training in theoretical thought (with a focus on materiality, collective action and assemblage theories) as the most significant component of the action, which will contribute to the development of a new theory of identity formation and a research agenda. The McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, University of Cambridge, is the ideal environment to develop these skills.
By contributing a framework to a less established and understudied sub-branch of archaeology in East Africa, HEAAT will give the field fresh direction. Also, the action will actively draw from historical and anthropological thought, bringing the two disciplines with their separate lines of study on the recent past closer to archaeology, facilitating interdisciplinary research.