The anthology African and Native American Contact in the United States: Anthropological and Historical Perspectives explores how anthropologists and historians have, over time, understood the dynamics between Africans and Native Americans. The book brings together four fields of anthropological knowledge and the historical record to illuminate the lived realities at the root of African and Native American contact.
The first four chapters are organized around specific paradigms centered on archaeological research, culture, linguistics, and history. These paradigms frame selected readings on specific topics such as ethnogenesis in African-Native American settlements, transculturalization, Cherokee folklore, and the experiences of those of mixed blood. The final chapters are devoted to the 21st century relevance of the four paradigms, as well as 21st century implications of African and Native American contact.
Featuring select previously printed works and thoughtfully written original material, African and Native American Contact in the United States thoughtfully combines primary sources that chronicle past events and an anthropological perspective that illuminates authentic experiences. The book is well-suited to courses in American Indian studies, African American studies, American history, and anthropology.
Robert Keith Collins holds a Ph.D. in anthropology from the University of California, Los Angeles. Dr. Collins, a four-field trained anthropologist, is an associate professor of the American Indian Studies Department at San Francisco State University, where he has taught courses in American Indian studies, American Indian history in the United States, American Indian and African contact in North, Central, and South America, and American Indian Ethno-linguistics. His research interests include American Indian cultural change, American and Native American interaction, and person-centered ethnography. His recent efforts include being a co-curator of the Smithsonian’s traveling banner exhibit “IndiVisible: African-Native American Lives in the Americas.”
