Ackee and saltfish vs. amalá con quimbombó? A note on Sidney Mintz’ contribution to the historical anthropology of African American cultures

Ackee and saltfish vs. amalá con quimbombó? A note on Sidney Mintz’ contribution to the historical anthropology of African American cultures. In the spirit of Sidney Mintz’ contribution to African American historical anthropology, this essay examines theories allocating differential explanatory weig...

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Main Author: Stephan Palmié
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Société des américanistes 2005-12-01
Series:Journal de la Société des Américanistes
Subjects:
Online Access:https://journals.openedition.org/jsa/2988
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author Stephan Palmié
author_facet Stephan Palmié
author_sort Stephan Palmié
collection DOAJ
description Ackee and saltfish vs. amalá con quimbombó? A note on Sidney Mintz’ contribution to the historical anthropology of African American cultures. In the spirit of Sidney Mintz’ contribution to African American historical anthropology, this essay examines theories allocating differential explanatory weight to African cultural continuities and New World social conditions in the historical development of African American cultures through the lens of a set of culinary allegories built around two Caribbean dishes. Specifically, I argue that the opposition recently voiced by some Africanist historians against the so-called « rapid early synthesis » model developed by Sidney Mintz and Richard Price not just misinterprets the theoretical issues at hand, but foregrounds highly problematic, and ultimately ahistorical, notions of « Africanity ». Contrasting Cuban and North American conceptual linkages between « Africanity » and « racial identity », and surveying the emergent North American literature on « culinary Pan-Africanism » in light of theories of cultural property, I suggest that it is time we transcended the terms in which the debate between so-called « creolists » and « New Revisionists » has been framed.
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spelling doaj-art-597cb57e5bd2471291bc75feea701ab02025-02-05T15:53:58ZengSociété des américanistesJournal de la Société des Américanistes0037-91741957-78422005-12-019128912210.4000/jsa.2988Ackee and saltfish vs. amalá con quimbombó? A note on Sidney Mintz’ contribution to the historical anthropology of African American culturesStephan PalmiéAckee and saltfish vs. amalá con quimbombó? A note on Sidney Mintz’ contribution to the historical anthropology of African American cultures. In the spirit of Sidney Mintz’ contribution to African American historical anthropology, this essay examines theories allocating differential explanatory weight to African cultural continuities and New World social conditions in the historical development of African American cultures through the lens of a set of culinary allegories built around two Caribbean dishes. Specifically, I argue that the opposition recently voiced by some Africanist historians against the so-called « rapid early synthesis » model developed by Sidney Mintz and Richard Price not just misinterprets the theoretical issues at hand, but foregrounds highly problematic, and ultimately ahistorical, notions of « Africanity ». Contrasting Cuban and North American conceptual linkages between « Africanity » and « racial identity », and surveying the emergent North American literature on « culinary Pan-Africanism » in light of theories of cultural property, I suggest that it is time we transcended the terms in which the debate between so-called « creolists » and « New Revisionists » has been framed.https://journals.openedition.org/jsa/2988African American culturesAfricanityracecuisineMintz (Sidney)
spellingShingle Stephan Palmié
Ackee and saltfish vs. amalá con quimbombó? A note on Sidney Mintz’ contribution to the historical anthropology of African American cultures
Journal de la Société des Américanistes
African American cultures
Africanity
race
cuisine
Mintz (Sidney)
title Ackee and saltfish vs. amalá con quimbombó? A note on Sidney Mintz’ contribution to the historical anthropology of African American cultures
title_full Ackee and saltfish vs. amalá con quimbombó? A note on Sidney Mintz’ contribution to the historical anthropology of African American cultures
title_fullStr Ackee and saltfish vs. amalá con quimbombó? A note on Sidney Mintz’ contribution to the historical anthropology of African American cultures
title_full_unstemmed Ackee and saltfish vs. amalá con quimbombó? A note on Sidney Mintz’ contribution to the historical anthropology of African American cultures
title_short Ackee and saltfish vs. amalá con quimbombó? A note on Sidney Mintz’ contribution to the historical anthropology of African American cultures
title_sort ackee and saltfish vs amala con quimbombo a note on sidney mintz contribution to the historical anthropology of african american cultures
topic African American cultures
Africanity
race
cuisine
Mintz (Sidney)
url https://journals.openedition.org/jsa/2988
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