Trade and the Construction of Bahamian Identity: A Multiscalar Exploration

Using ceramic data, we explore how a multiscalar approach, framed within Giddens' Theory of Structuration, can lead to a more complete understanding of the construction of New World Creole identities. The two scales of analysis serve to inform one another. We draw upon archaeological and historical data from five plantation sites located on three islands of the Bahamas. On the macroscale level, we demonstrate how regional trade networks limited or facilitated access to ceramics and shaped the ways that individual planters used these goods to construct statements about wealth and prestige. A microscale analysis of ceramics recovered from six slave households demonstrates how families with complete market access used ceramics as a means of creating a sense of community identity and mediating tensions within the quarters.