{"id":1107,"date":"2024-12-03T11:29:32","date_gmt":"2024-12-03T16:29:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/antarc135-fa24\/?p=1107"},"modified":"2024-12-09T15:50:19","modified_gmt":"2024-12-09T20:50:19","slug":"amanda-logan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/antarc135-fa24\/?p=1107","title":{"rendered":"Amanda Logan"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Eva Larson, Laine Fine, Quinn Granfelt, Claudia Novas Rivera<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Introduction<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>
\n

Dr. Amanda Logan is a paleoethnobotany archaeologist specializing in West Africa during the last millennium. In 2022, she was named a Carnegie Fellow<\/a> to support her analytical focuses and is a Professor at Northwestern University in the Department of Anthropology. Dr. Logan has been working in Banda, Ghana since 2007 as a graduate student.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Photograph: Northwestern University<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Research Interests<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Amanda Logan’s main research interests include analytically looking at archaeological plant remains providing a critical source of empirical data that can illuminate past foodways and build new narratives about food security that challenge present-day assumptions of West Africa (e.g., Ghana, Nigeria). She is interested in how food traditions changed over time, especially alongside political and environmental shifts. Aside from teaching students, Dr. Logan pursues her research findings by directly leading archaeological fieldwork in West Ghana.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Amanda
\u201cBanda Research Project team members Amanda Logan (right) and Amy Groleau (left) draw a plan map of units 44N 4W and 44N 6W, Mound 6, Ngre Kataa.\u201d Photo taken by: Dr. Ann B. Stahl. University of Victoria Libraries, https:\/\/exhibits.library.uvic.ca\/spotlight\/iaff\/catalog\/17-17603
<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

She is most well-known for her publications on her research on food security in Ghana. Her book The Scarcity Slot: Excavating Histories of Food Security in Ghana<\/em><\/a> is the first to critically examine West Africa\u2019s past food security. Dr. Logan\u2019s book reveals that people thrived during a severe, centuries-long drought just as Europeans arrived on the coast, with a major decline in food security emerging only recently. This insight challenges how we think about previous African foodways with implications for the future of food insecurity. In 2021, the Scarcity Slot <\/em>was recognized with the \u201cFirst Book Award from the Association for the Study of Food and Society\u201d (Northeastern). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Education<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

BA, Archaeology<\/strong>, Simon Fraser University<\/p>\n\n\n\n

MA, Anthropology<\/strong>, University of Missouri<\/p>\n\n\n\n

PhD, Anthropology<\/strong>, University of Michigan<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Publications of Interest<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

A.C. D\u2019Andrea, S. Kahlheber, , A.L. Logan, and, and D.J. Watson <\/p>\n\n\n\n

2007 Early domesticated cowpea (Vigna unguiculata) from Central Ghana<\/strong>. DOI:doi:10.1017\/S0003598X00095661.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Illustrations<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Gokee, Cameron, and Logan, Amanda<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2014 Comparing Craft and Culinary Practice in Africa: Themes and Perspectives<\/strong>. African Archaeological Review. <\/em>DOI 10.1007\/s10437-014-9162-7. https:\/\/www.academia.edu\/7315277\/Comparing_Craft_and_Culinary_P<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Map<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Logan, Amanda<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2016    \u201cWhy Can\u2019t People Feed Themselves?\u201d: Archeology as Alternative Archive of Food Security in Banda, Ghana.<\/strong> American Anthropologist<\/em> 118(3):508-524<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Bar<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Logan, Amanda, and M. Dores Cruz. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

2014. Gendered Taskscapes: Food, Farming, and Craft Production in Banda, Ghana in the Eighteenth to Twenty-first Centuries<\/strong>. African Archaeological Review<\/em> 31(2):203\u2013231. DOI:10.1007\/s10437-014-9155-6.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Map<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trowelblazing<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Amanda Logan can be considered a TrowelBlazer because of her activist approach to uncovering and interpreting Africa\u2019s food histories. Her research demonstrates a fuller picture of African history that departs from typical colonial views and debunks these colonial narratives that depict the continent as dependent or underdeveloped. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

By integrating archeological plant remains, oral histories, and ethnographic studies, Dr. Logan reconstructs vibrant histories of food systems that sustained communities for centuries. Her work not only challenges outdated assumptions but also provides actionable insights for addressing modern issues like climate change and food insecurity. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Through her collaborations with local communities and scholars, Dr. Logan emphasizes the importance of African voices in shaping historical narratives, bridging past and future, and redefining archeology as a tool for social justice and sustainable development. In her own words,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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“If we\u2019re really committed to solve \u2018the problem of African food insecurity,\u2019 we have to deal with the way those unequal economic systems benefit many of us in the Global North,”<\/p>\nAmanda Logan<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

\n
\"Location
Archaeological sites and their associated occupational phases in the Banda Traditional Area, Bono Region, Ghana.
Desmond Roessingh\/CC BY-SA 4.0<\/a>\/University of Victoria Libraries<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Map
Map of the Banda area and villages that were the focus of ethnographic study 
Gendered Taskscapes: Food, Farming, and Craft Production in Banda, Ghana in the Eighteenth to Twenty-First Centuries<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Sources<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Carnegie Corporation of New York<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2022   2022 Andrew Carnegie Fellows Program Amanda Logan. Electronic document, https:\/\/www.carnegie.org\/awards\/honoree\/amanda-logan\/<\/a>, accessed November 20, 2024<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gruber, Anya<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2024   How Colonialism Invented Food Insecurity in West Africa. Electronic document, https:\/\/www.sapiens.org\/archaeology\/food-insecurity-west-africa-origins-colonialism\/<\/a>, accessed November 20, 2024. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Northwestern Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences <\/p>\n\n\n\n

2024   Amanda Logan. Electronic document, https:\/\/anthropology.northwestern.edu\/people\/faculty\/logan.html<\/a>, accessed November 20, 2024<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Eva Larson, Laine Fine, Quinn Granfelt, Claudia Novas Rivera Introduction Dr. Amanda Logan is a paleoethnobotany archaeologist specializing in West Africa during the last millennium.…<\/p>\n

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