Speaking the Lacuna: The Archaeology of Plantation Slavery as Testimony

Abstract

This paper examines plantation archaeology as a form of material testimony and bearing witness to the historical trauma of slavery. Exploring intersections of literary and spatial analysis, and using a critical framework that combines Agamben, Weizman, and Felman, the author argues that the material testimony of plantation archaeology embodies a “lacuna” of witnessing, and may even replicate historical dynamics of violence.