Archaeology of the Afro-Ecuadorians in La Concepción, Ancestral Territory of the Chota-Mira Valley (Carchi-Ecuador)

Historical Archaeology of the African Diaspora in the Americas urges for interdisciplinary, collaborative, and intercultural approaches to shed light on how the material culture reflects conditions of enslavement and racialization, but also process of resistance and historical reparation. This investigation is organized in five articles connected around the topic of the cultural construction of the African Diaspora identities in the Afro-Ecuadorian Ancestral Territory of the Chota-Mira Valley from the perspective of historical, collaborative, de-colonizing archaeology and anthropology. One article involves archaeological and historical analysis of ceramics associated with household contexts of enslaved people in the 18th century Jesuit Andean Hacienda of La Concepcion to reconstruct creativity in production/consumptions of ceramics. Two articles articulate the historical narratives and politics of memory of the Afro-Ecuadorians, mainly from Afro-Ecuadorian Women. The last article focuses on a collaborative approach to reconstruct an 18th century cemetery. Furthermore, this study involves a collaborative project with the African descendant community of La Concepción and CONAMUNE-Carchi (Coordinadora Nacional de Mujeres Negras / National Coordinating Committee of Black Women)