J. Cameron Monroe

University of California, Santa Cruz, Anthropology, Faculty Member

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Professor J. Cameron Monroe earned a B.A. from UC Berkeley (1995), M.A. from UCLA (1999), and PhD from UCLA (2003), all degrees in Anthropology. Between 2004 and 2006, he was a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Departments of African and African American Studies, Anthropology, and History at Washington University in St. Louis. He joined the Department of Anthropology at UC Santa Cruz in the Fall of 2006. He has participated in archaeological field research in Armenia, Belize, Bénin, Haiti, Israel, Sudan and the United States (California and Virginia).

Professor J. Cameron Monroe’s research broadly examines political, economic, and cultural transformation in West Africa and the Diaspora in the era of the slave trade. He has conducted longterm research in the Republic of Bénin in West Africa (The Abomey Plateau Archaeological Project). This project explores the the political economy of landscape and the built environment and the nature of urban transformation in West Africa during the era of the trans-Atlantic slave trade. In 2015 he initiated a comparative project on the materiality of power and political sovereignty in post-revolutionary Haiti. This project (The Milot Archaeological Project) examines the royal palace site of Sans-Souci in its broader political and economic context in the Kingdom of Hayti, a short-lived experiment in political order in the wake of the Haitian revolution.
Address: Department of Anthropology
321 Social Sciences 1
University of California, Santa Cruz
Santa Cruz, CA 95064

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Books by J. Cameron Monroe

L'état précolonial en Afrique Occidentale: Construire la pouvoire au Dahomey

L'état précolonial en Afrique Occidentale: Construire la pouvoire au Dahomey, 2014

Ce texte est une traduction de mon livre « The Precolonial State in West Africa: Building Power i... more Ce texte est une traduction de mon livre « The Precolonial State in West Africa: Building Power in Dahomey» (2014). Le texte a été traduit à l'aide de Google Translate et je ne garantis pas l'exactitude de la traduction. Je le partage pour rendre l'œuvre plus accessible à un public francophone.

Ce volume incorpore des sources historiques, ethnographiques, historiques de l'art et archéologiques pour examiner la relation entre la production de l'espace et l'ordre politique dans le royaume ouestafricain du Dahomey pendant la tumultueuse ère atlantique. Le Dahomey, situé dans l'actuelle République du Bénin, apparaît à cette époque comme l'un des principaux agents de la traite négrière transatlantique et un exemple de la formation d'un État ouest africain. S'appuyant sur treize ans de travail de terrain ethnohistorique et archéologique en République du Bénin, la thèse centrale de ce volume est que les rois dahoméens ont utilisé des tactiques spatiales pour projeter le pouvoir et atténuer la dissidence sur leurs territoires. J. Cameron Monroe soutient que ces tactiques ont permis aux rois d'exploiter économiquement leurs sujets et de promouvoir un sens de l'inévitabilité historique du pouvoir royal, et de naturaliser la distance sociale entre les gouvernants et les gouvernés. J. Cameron Monroe est professeur agrégé d'anthropologie à l'Université de Californie à Santa Cruz et directeur du projet de recherche sur le plateau d'Abomey en République du Bénin, en Afrique de l'Ouest. Ses recherches portent sur la transformation politique, économique et culturelle de l'Afrique de l'Ouest et de la diaspora africaine à l'époque de la traite des esclaves. Son projet de recherche (Projet Archéologique du Plateau d'Abomey, Bénin) porte sur l'économie politique du paysage et de l'environnement bâti, et sur la nature des transformations urbaines en Afrique de l'Ouest à l'époque atlantique. Il a publié le

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The Precolonial State in West Africa: Building Power in Dahomey

The Precolonial State in West Africa: Building Power in Dahomey, Jun 2014

This volume incorporates historical, ethnographic, art historical, and archaeological sources to ... more This volume incorporates historical, ethnographic, art historical, and archaeological sources to examine the relationship between the production of space and political order in the West African Kingdom of Dahomey during the tumultuous Atlantic Era. Dahomey, situated in the modern Republic of Bénin, emerged in this period as one of the principle agents in the trans-Atlantic slave trade and an exemplar of West African state formation. Drawing from eight years of ethnohistorical and archaeological fieldwork in the Republic of Bénin, the central thesis of this volume is that Dahomean kings used spatial tactics to project power and mitigate dissent across their territories. J. Cameron Monroe argues that these tactics enabled kings to economically exploit their subjects, and to promote a sense of the historical and natural inevitability of royal power.

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Power and Landscape in Atlantic West Africa: Archaeological Perspectives

by J. Cameron Monroe and Akin Ogundiran

This volume examines the archaeology of precolonial West African societies in the era of the tran... more This volume examines the archaeology of precolonial West African societies in the era of the trans-Atlantic slave trade. Using historical and archaeological perspectives on landscape, this collection of essays sheds light on how involvement in the commercial revolutions of the early modern period dramatically reshaped the regional contours of political organization across West Africa. The essays examine how social and political transformations occurred at the regional level by exploring regional economic networks, population shifts, cultural values, and ideologies. The book demonstrates the importance of anthropological insights not only to the broad political history of West Africa, but also to an understanding of political culture as a form of meaningful social practice.

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Negotiating African-American Ethnicity In the 17th-Century Chesapeake: Colono Tobacco Pipes and the Ethnic Uses of Style

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Papers by J. Cameron Monroe

African Archaeology at the Crossroads

African archaeological review/The African archaeological review, Mar 21, 2024

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Power and Landscape in Atlantic West Africa

Cambridge University Press eBooks, Mar 5, 2012

African Archaeology at the Crossroads

African Archaeological Review, 2024

The Dahomean Feast: Royal Women, Private Politics, and Culinary Practices in Atlantic West Africa

African Archaeological Review, May 28, 2014

Feasting is a central component of elite power strategies in complex societies worldwide. In the ... more Feasting is a central component of elite power strategies in complex societies worldwide. In the precolonial Kingdom of Dahomey, located in the Republic of Bénin, public feasts were a critical component of royal strategies to attract and bind political subjects over the course of the seventeenth through nineteenth centuries, a period of dramatic political transformation on the Bight of Benin. Archaeological excavations within the domestic quarters of a series of Dahomean royal palace sites have yielded diverse faunal and ceramic assemblages that represent clear examples of (1) ritualized food consumption and (2) everyday culinary practices. In this paper, faunal and ceramic evidence from two excavated contexts is marshaled to distinguish the archaeological signatures of feasting in Dahomey, highlighting the importance of private feasts in attempts to build political influence in the domestic zones of Dahomean royal palaces. In particular, this analysis foregrounds how royal women jockeyed for power and influence during a period of political uncertainty. Résumé À travers le monde, et parmi toutes les élites des sociétés complexes, la fête a toujours été un élément central dans les stratégies du pouvoir. Concrètement, dans le royaume précolonial du Dahomey, situé dans la République du Bénin, et au cours du 17ème au 19ème siècles, période dramatique de transformation politique dans le golfe du Bénin, les fêtes publiques ont constitué le coeur des stratégies royales destinées à attirer les sujets à la monarchie. Les fouilles archéologiques dans les zones intérieures des palais royaux dahoméens nous ont fourni de diverses collections de la faune et de la céramique, représentent des exemples clairs (1) des repas ritualizés, et (2), des habitudes alimentaires quotidiennes. Dans cet article, les preuves archéologiques obtenues au cours de deux fouilles sont assemblées, pour distinguer les traces archéologiques du phénomène de la fête dahoméenne, et pour révéler le role que les fêtes privées ont joué dans l'élaboration de l'influence politique à l'intérieur des palais royaux dahoméens. En particulier, cette Afr Archaeol Rev

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Sovereignty after Slavery

Current Anthropology, 2020

This paper synthesizes recent archaeological research on the Kingdom of Haiti, a short-lived expe... more This paper synthesizes recent archaeological research on the Kingdom of Haiti, a short-lived experiment in political sovereignty founded in the years following the Haitian Revolution. I will explore the potential for an archaeology of sovereignty in the Black Atlantic world. Examining both architectural spaces and artifacts recovered from the palace of Sans-Souci, royal residence of King Henry Christophe, this paper highlights a constellation of material practices that fostered an emerging ideology of authority in postrevolution Haiti. Collectively, this research is revealing how political agents drew creatively and strategically from both European material culture and Afro-Caribbean traditions in the practice of political authority in the Kingdom of Haiti, casting new light on the complex nature of sovereignty after slavery in the Age of Revolutions.

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The Precolonial State in West Africa: Introduction

More field than habitation, and far more fallow than field": Settlement Patterns, Farming Practices, and Demographic Change on the Abomey Plateau, Republic of Bénin

The Precolonial State in West Africa: Building Power in Dahomey

This volume incorporates historical, ethnographic, art historical, and archaeological sources to ... more This volume incorporates historical, ethnographic, art historical, and archaeological sources to examine the relationship between the production of space and political order in the West African kingdom of Dahomey during the tumultuous Atlantic Era. Dahomey, situated in the modern Republic of B é nin, emerged during this period as one of the principal agents in the trans-Atlantic slave trade and an exemplar of West African state formation. Drawing from thirteen years of ethnohistorical and archaeological fi eldwork in the Republic of B é nin, the central thesis of this volume is that Dahomean kings used spatial tactics to project power and mitigate dissent across their territories. J. Cameron Monroe argues that these tactics enabled kings to economically exploit their subjects, promote a sense of the historical inevitability of royal power, and naturalize social distance between rulers and the ruled.

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Demographic Change and the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade in West Africa: An Example from the Abomey Plataeu, Bénin

Power and Landscape in Atlantic West Africa: Preface

Connecting Continents: Archaeological Perspectives on Slavery, Trade, and Colonialism

Society for American Archaeology & European Association of Archaeologists Joint Thematic Meeting

El urbanismo en la costa de los Esclavos

Illuminating Haiti’s Royal Past: Advancing Analytics Through 3D Data Fusion of Terrestrial Surface Models and Subsurface Geophysical Data

The Precolonial State in West Africa: Bibliography

Urbanisation and State Formation in the Ancient Sahara and Beyond

29 Leveau 2018, demonstrates that even minor fluctuations for the desert margins and the Maghrib ... more 29 Leveau 2018, demonstrates that even minor fluctuations for the desert margins and the Maghrib proper during Classical antiquity had potentially more profound implications for those zones. 30 Purdue et al. 2018b, 9-12. 31 Purdue et al. 2018b, 9. 32 See Gauthier and Gauthier Forthcoming for an important study that tracks human activity following shrinking lake margins in Chad.

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New Light from Haiti's Royal Past: Recent Archaeological Excavations in the Palace of Sans-Souci, Milot

Journal of Haitian Studies, 2017

Abstract:Our understanding of the nature of life in the Kingdom of Haiti, the fledgling state tha... more Abstract:Our understanding of the nature of life in the Kingdom of Haiti, the fledgling state that emerged out of the turmoil of the Haitian Revolution, is obscured by the silences of an often problematic historical and literary archive. Since 2015, an international team of scholars from the United States and Haiti have undertaken archaeological research at the UNESCO World Heritage site of Sans-Souci. The royal palace of Sans-Souci was a key material component of royal power strategies in the Kingdom of Haiti, and it served as the center of political gravity during the reign of Henry Christophe. Despite the centrally important historical role this site has played in Haitian historical memory, negligible archaeological work has been carried out within the palace precinct. Adopting a multidimensional research strategy that includes 3-D modeling, ground-penetrating radar, and targeted excavation, the Milot Archaeological Project (MAP) is casting new light on the architectural chronology of the site, the nature of material life behind the palace walls, and both the regional and the long-distance economic networks in which the Kingdom was embedded. This article summarizes the MAP's recent findings, highlighting the great potential of archaeological research for answering important social, political, and economic questions about this important experiment in political sovereignty.

J. Cameron Monroe

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