Lunch Club provides affiliates of the Stanford Archaeology Center with a community-oriented forum for engagement with current issues in archaeology. On February 4, 2026,  we will host Dr. Khadene Harris from Rice University.

Abstract:

This talk considers the theoretical potential of the plantationocene when viewed from the perspective of Dominica’s historical archaeology. Coined just over a decade ago, the term ‘plantationocene’ was an attempt to characterize more precisely the devastating transformation of diverse ecologies into enclosed plantations that relied on coerced labor. Despite the compelling premise, the plantationocene has been criticized for advancing a view of the plantation that obscures the racialization of power and the interventions made by the Caribbean's laboring class. Drawing on archival and archaeological research, this talk narrates the formation of the plantationocene on Dominica and elaborates on the network of objects, people, and ideas that the working agricultural class mobilized in response to the demands of the plantation economy. 

For more information please visit https://archaeology.stanford.edu/events/lunch-club