Bio

I am an archaeologist and historical anthropologist focusing on labor, slavery, and the African diaspora of the Andes. I earned my Ph.D. from Vanderbilt University in 2015. Prior to coming to the Stanford Archaeology Center as a Postdoc in the fall of 2018, I was the Mellon Institute Visiting Assistant Professor of History and Anthropology at Berea College (Kentucky, 2016-2018), and a Visiting Fellow at the Institute for Collaborative Research in the Humanities, Queen’s University Belfast (Northern Ireland, 2015-2016).

My current research explores through material culture the daily lived experience of agroindustrial workers and residents, the vast majority of whom were both enslaved and of Sub-Saharan African origin, on wine and brandy producing estates owned by the Society of Jesus on the Peruvian coast in the 17th and 18th centuries. I direct the Haciendas of Nasca Archaeological Project (PAHN), centered on Nasca’s Ingenio Valley, which is the first to archaeologically study the African diaspora in what is today the Republic of Peru. By following daily praxis in both productive and domestic contexts, my research asserts that enslaved Afro-Andean laborers engaged with the oppressive structures of hacienda life, but developed strategies and found discreet and material ways of self-expression in response to hegemonic structures.

Professional Education

  • Bachelor of Arts, Western Michigan University (2005)
  • Master of Arts, Western Michigan University (2008)
  • Licenciatura, Pontificia Universidad Catolica del Peru (2010)
  • Doctor of Philosophy, Vanderbilt University (2015)

Stanford Advisors

Contact

  • Academic
    weaverb@stanford.edu
    University - Scholar Department: Archaeology Position: Postdoctoral Scholar

Additional Info

Links

Projects

  • The Haciendas of Nasca Archaeological Project (PAHN)

    Location

    Nasca, Peru

    For More Information:

All Publications

  • Heritage and the Archaeology of Afro-Peru: Community Engagement in the Valleys of Nasca. Historical archaeology Weaver, B. J., Fhon Bazán, M. A., Santana Quispe, L. 2022: 1-22

    Abstract

    The year 2019 marked the quadricentenary of two communities in the Ingenio Valley of Nasca, Peru, founded as vineyard haciendas by the Society of Jesus (Jesuits). For a decade, the Haciendas of Nasca Archaeological Project (PAHN) has carried out archaeological and ethnohistorical research in collaboration and consultation with valley communities descended from the haciendas' enslaved populations. PAHN was envisioned as a project aimed at engaging Peruvian publics at multiple scales. PAHN engages local descendant communities in an exploration of their history through historical archaeology, as well as a broader public-entering national conversations about the visibility of African descendants and their histories in Peru. Through our varied approaches to the archaeology of slavery and hacienda as cultural heritage through in-person engagement and our Web initiatives during the international pandemic of 2020, we consider the importance of maintaining engagement with multiple publics when normal activities are disrupted.

    View details for DOI 10.1007/s41636-021-00309-0

    View details for PubMedID 35287280

    View details for PubMedCentralID PMC8906358

  • "The Grace of God and Virtue of Obedience": The Archaeology of Slavery and the Jesuit Hacienda Systems of Nasca, Peru, 1619-1767 JOURNAL OF JESUIT STUDIES Weaver, B. M. 2021; 8 (3): 430-453

    View details for DOI 10.1163/22141332-0803P005

    View details for Web of Science ID 000642624200005

  • An Archaeology of the Aesthetic: Slavery and Politics at the Jesuit Vineyards of Nasca Cambridge Archaeological Journal Weaver, B. J. 2020

    View details for DOI 10.1017/S0959774320000293

  • Ghosts of the Haciendas: Memory, Architecture, and the Architecture of Memory in the Post-Hacienda Era of Southern Coastal Peru ETHNOHISTORY Weaver, B. M. 2020; 67 (1): 149–73

    View details for DOI 10.1215/00141801-7888795

    View details for Web of Science ID 000544180100007

  • Supplies, Status, and Slavery: Contested Aesthetics of Provisioning at the Jesuit Haciendas of Nasca INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF HISTORICAL ARCHAEOLOGY Weaver, B. M., Munoz, L. A., Durand, K. 2019; 23 (4): 1011–38

    View details for DOI 10.1007/s10761-018-0485-y

    View details for Web of Science ID 000495244100009

  • Rethinking the political economy of slavery: the hacienda aesthetic at the Jesuit vineyards of Nasca, Peru POST-MEDIEVAL ARCHAEOLOGY Weaver, B. M. 2018; 52 (1): 117–33

    View details for DOI 10.1080/00794236.2018.1461330

    View details for Web of Science ID 000439903600009

  • Perspectivas para el desarrollo de una arqueología de la diáspora africana en el Perú: Resultados preliminares del Proyecto Arqueológico Haciendas de Nasca ALLPANCHIS Weaver, B. J. 2016; 80: 85-120
  • Para beneficiar la plata: Mano de obra, papel, y posición social en una refinería de plata durante el primer siglo del imperialismo español en el pueblo de Porco BOLETÍN DE ARQUEOLOGÍA PUCP Weaver, B. J. 2016; 21: 99-121
  • El inventario de la botica de los Jesuitas del Colegio del Cuzco, 1767/8 REVISTA ANDINA Weaver, B. J. 2015; 52: 213-247
  • Contours of Labor and History: A Diachronic Perspective on Andean Mineral Production and the Making of Landscapes in Porco, Bolivia HISTORICAL ARCHAEOLOGY Van Buren, M., Weaver, B. M. 2012; 46 (3): 79–101

    View details for DOI 10.1007/BF03376872

    View details for Web of Science ID 000314379800006

https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6413-0427