See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/241712664

Identity, fashion and exchange: Pottery in West

Article in Azania Archaeological Research in Africa · April 2011 DOI: 10.1080/0067270X.2011.554215

CITATIONS READS 5 436

5 authors, including:

Anne Haour Katie Manning University of East Anglia King's College London

53 PUBLICATIONS 254 CITATIONS 45 PUBLICATIONS 1,162 CITATIONS

SEE PROFILE SEE PROFILE

Some of the authors of this publication are also working on these related projects:

Cowries: an early global commodity View project

Garumele View project

All content following this page was uploaded by Anne Haour on 28 August 2015.

The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file. This article was downloaded by: [University of East Anglia Library] On: 13 April 2011 Access details: Access Details: [subscription number 773569446] Publisher Routledge Informa Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954 Registered office: Mortimer House, 37- 41 Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH, UK

Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa Publication details, including instructions for authors and subscription information: http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/title~content=t902477532

Identity, fashion and exchange: pottery in Anne Haoura; Katie Manningb; Clement Bakindec; Abass Iddrisud; Malik Saakod a Sainsbury Research Unit, University of East Anglia, UK b Institute of , London, UK c Department of Archaeology, , Zaria, d Department of Cultural and Heritage Studies, University of , Legon, Ghana

Online publication date: 11 April 2011

To cite this Article Haour, Anne , Manning, Katie , Bakinde, Clement , Iddrisu, Abass and Saako, Malik(2011) 'Identity, fashion and exchange: pottery in West Africa', Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa, 46: 1, 1 — 2 To link to this Article: DOI: 10.1080/0067270X.2011.554215 URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/0067270X.2011.554215

PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR ARTICLE

Full terms and conditions of use: http://www.informaworld.com/terms-and-conditions-of-access.pdf

This article may be used for research, teaching and private study purposes. Any substantial or systematic reproduction, re-distribution, re-selling, loan or sub-licensing, systematic supply or distribution in any form to anyone is expressly forbidden.

The publisher does not give any warranty express or implied or make any representation that the contents will be complete or accurate or up to date. The accuracy of any instructions, formulae and drug doses should be independently verified with primary sources. The publisher shall not be liable for any loss, actions, claims, proceedings, demand or costs or damages whatsoever or howsoever caused arising directly or indirectly in connection with or arising out of the use of this material. Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa Vol. 46, No. 1, April 2011, 1Á2

EDITORIAL Identity, fashion and exchange: pottery in West Africa Anne Haoura*, Katie Manningb with contributions from Clement Bakindec, Abass Iddrisud and Malik Saakod

aSainsbury Research Unit, University of East Anglia, UK; bInstitute of Archaeology, 31-34 Gordon Square, London, UK; cDepartment of Archaeology, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Nigeria; dDepartment of Cultural and Heritage Studies, University of Ghana, Legon, Ghana

This is the second in a series of planned themed issues of Azania, following the spring 2010 issue on early East African food production. The papers presented here arise from a five-day symposium held in December 2008 at the Institut Fondamental d’Afrique Noire and the Muse´e The´odore Monod d’Art Africain in Dakar, involving a collaborative team of archaeologists and ethnographers specialising in impressed ceramics from the West African -Sahelian region. This symposium built on a first meeting in Oxford earlier in the year,1 during which we developed a systematic framework for the classification of fibre roulettes.2 While the objective of that first symposium was to establish common terminologies for the analysis of impressed pottery, the Dakar meeting aimed to illustrate the necessity of such an endeavour: specifically, the way in which clearer and more robust ceramic classification schemes can be used to inform us about past social and cultural change. Six of the 11 papers presented in Dakar are collected here. All make the argument that by confronting archaeological and ethnographic data we can better understand the role of ceramics in mediating and tracking social interaction and cultural change. The six authors make use of data drawn from studies of present-day potting techniques and apprenticeship networks to derive implications for the past. Drawing on extensive ethnographic works, Olivier Gosselain revisits a fundamental question Á why decorate? Á and thus establishes the foundations of this special issue. What

Downloaded By: [University of East Anglia Library] At: 14:55 13 April 2011 aspects of social organisation, and what scale of social interaction, are represented in the choice and adoption of different decorative types? Katie Manning explores the potential of ceramics in shedding light on micro-scale processes in the archaeological record, by examining aspects of stylistic experimentation and village identity in the Tilemsi Valley of . At the other end of the scale, Kevin MacDonald, also working with examples from Mali, questions the classification of archaeological ceramic cultural entities by highlighting the complex and often highly personal processes by which researchers develop them. Dealing with more recent archae- ological materials, both Anne Haour and Anne Mayor offer wide regional overviews (of the central Sahel and the Bend respectively) to examine the impact of political influences on stylistic homogenisation, while Sokhna Nde`ye Gue`ye explores

*Email: [email protected]

ISSN 0067-270X print/ISSN 1945-5534 online # 2011 Taylor & Francis DOI: 10.1080/0067270X.2011.554215 http://www.informaworld.com 2 Editorial

the production and distribution networks of ceramics in a highly stratified, ‘casted’ society, the Halpulaaren of . The aims of this research network have been to achieve homogeneity in classification systems, strengthen collaboration among researchers and provide a fresh view on the theoretical advancements in West African ceramic studies. Most encouragingly, perhaps, this initiative is just one of a growing number of similar collaborative networks.3 Whilst African archaeology is achieving an ever increasing presence in global archaeology, we all know the adage that ‘together we stand, divided we fall’. Food for thought indeed. We hope, then, that the collaborative programmes under way will in turn motivate researchers and students to organise further events in which ideas, methodologies and data can be shared.

Notes 1. These meetings took place as part of the research network ‘Making a good impression’, which was made possible by a grant by the Leverhulme Trust to Anne Haour (F/00 204/AI), with Katie Manning acting as Network Facilitator. 2. Other outcomes of the research collaboration are the volume African pottery roulettes past and present: Techniques, identification and distribution (Haour et al. 2010) and the digital archive: http://ads.ahds.ac.uk/catalogue/archive/wafrican_lt_2010/index.cfm? CFID4824429&CFTOKEN36855026. 3. See, in particular, the work by CERAFIM (http://sites.univ-provence.fr/lampea/ressources/ cerafim/) with its extensive and rapidly evolving collection of images and descriptive texts; or, under construction, the Ceramics and Society project’s database of East African Tana and Triangular Incised wares, soon to be online hosted by Rice University.

Reference Haour, A., K. Manning, N. Arazi, O. Gosselain, S. Gue`ye, D. Keita, A. Livingstone Smith, K.C. MacDonald, A. Mayor, S.K. McIntosh and R. Vernet, eds. 2010. African pottery roulettes past and present: Techniques, identification and distribution. Oxford: Oxbow Books. Downloaded By: [University of East Anglia Library] At: 14:55 13 April 2011

View publication stats