A. José Farrujia de la Rosa, An Archaeology of the Margins: Colonialism, Amazighity and Heritage Management in the Canary Islands

Abstract

This five-chapter volume appears as part of the Springer Briefs in Archaeological Heritage Management subseries. The author, A. Jose Farrujia de la Rosa, fills the series’ bill by providing a short-format archaeological monograph that is approachable by both the advanced undergraduate and seasoned researcher alike. It is adventurous in its temporal scope, covering the initial settlement of the archipelago in the first millennium BC through European incursion in the fifteenth century AD. It is equally bold in its theoretical breadth, highlighting the political and colonial projects that surrounded Canarian archaeology, heritage management, and the representation of Canarian history. The book is timely, building on recent efforts to problematize not only the colonial project but also European scholars’ continuing control over discourses rooted in postcolonial localities. As an alternative to standard historiography, Farrujia highlights the interface of culture, history, and local politics. This revisionary effort begins with the title, where Farrujia underscores “Amazighity” as an alternative to “Berber,” in an effort to advance his argument that an archaeology of the Canary Islands should seek an indigenous perspective and, whenever possible, local terminology. Yet the author avoids reifying the Amazigh and reminds the reader that the term itself awkwardly subsumes many different groups. Throughout the volume, Farrujia explores the edges—or margins—of the lived experience of Amazigh and avoids forcing their history into discrete named places or exact points along a timeline. He concludes that raising indigenous social consciousness, and especially its connection to the African continent and contemporary Imazighen peoples, will be most helpful in developing an indigenous perspective within Canarian archaeology. Farrujia outlines the early settlement of the Canary Islands and charts a path through previous problematic and politically influenced histories. He notes that while Amazigh in origin, the initial Canarian settlers faced different environments from other Amazigh Afr Archaeol Rev (2015) 32:163–165 DOI 10.1007/s10437-015-9180-0