Eleven leading scholars of archaeology, linguistics and socio-cultural anthropology draw upon extensive field experiences and archival investigations of black communities in North America, the Caribbean, South America and Africa to challenge received paradigms in Afro-American anthropology. The contributors address colonialism, the slave trade, racism, ethnogenesis, New World nationalism, urban identity politics, the development of artworlds, musics and their publics, the emergence of new religious and ritual forms, speech genres and contested historical representations. North America: School for Advanced Research Press