Crafting and Forging The Black Diaspora: Black Histories in Jewelry

Often historical studies on jewelry are often focused on Eurocentric traditions especially in the Americas, this project seeks to reveal the transnational legacies of jewelry artists and makers in the Black Diaspora of the Americas. There are several questions guiding this study including; What are Black contributions in metalwork as craft, and how have Blacks used metal in the Diaspora? My interests are in jewelry or adornments—the objects we wear on different parts of the body and that often reflect aspects of cultural identity. Yet, I am also interested in probing the question, “What is Black American jewelry?” This project couples methodological and epistemological frameworks honed in archival studies, arts based research, art conservation science, (technical) art history, Black-centered material culture, and technical studies on historical objects. Through this diverse range of theoretical viewpoints this thesis project seeks to introduce readers to the diverse range of; material interests/mnemonics, fabrication/technical abilities, and the socio-cultural functionality of the objects these artists create. This project does not seek to serve as a definitive study on all of Black Diasporic jewelry, instead it seeks to propose a wide range of methodological tools that could be used for engaging in further research and scholarship on Black jewelry.