Dr. Matthew C. Reilly is an Associate Professor of Anthropology and Interdisciplinary Programs at the City College of New York and Co-Subfield Coordinator for Archaeology at the CUNY Graduate Center. He currently directs archaeological research in Barbados and with the Back-to-Africa Heritage and Archaeology project in Liberia. His work explores issues of race, colonialism, heritage, slavery, sovereignty, and freedom in the Caribbean and West Africa. He is the co-editor of Pre-Colonial and Post-Contact Archaeology in Barbados: Past Present, and Future Research Directions (2019) and author of Archaeology below the Cliff: Race, Class, and Redlegs in Barbadian Sugar Society (2019).
Education
- Ph.D. in Anthropology (2014), Syracuse University
- M.A. in Social Sciences (2009), University of Chicago
- B.S. in Anthropology and American Studies (2007), University of Maryland, College Park
Courses
- Introduction to Archaeology
- Human Origins
- The Archaeology of Race and Slavery
- Pirates of the Caribbean
- Archaeological Methods
Publications
Books:
- Reilly, Matthew C. (under revision). Archaeology below the Cliff: Race, Class, and Redlegs in Barbadian Sugar Society. The University of Alabama Press: Tuscaloosa, AL.
Edited Collections:
- Reilly, Matthew C., guest editor (under review). Archaeology and Futurity. Journal of Contemporary Archaeology.
- Peer-Reviewed Journal Articles:
- Reilly, Matthew C. (under review). “Archaeologies of Expectation.” Journal of Contemporary Archaeology.
- Handler, Jerome S. and Matthew C. Reilly (2017). “White Slaves” in the Early English Caribbean: The Case of Barbados. New West Indian Guide. 91: 30-55.
- Reilly, Matthew C. (2016). Archaeologies of Instability: Order and Disorder in Colonial Barbados. Journal of Social Archaeology. 16(2): 216-237.
- Reilly, Matthew C. (2016). “Poor White” Recollections and Artifact Reuse in Barbados: Considerations for Archaeologies of Poverty. International Journal of Historical Archaeology. 20(2): 318-340.
- Armstrong, Douglas V. and Matthew C. Reilly (2014). The Archaeology of Settler Farms and Early Plantation Life in Seventeenth-Century Barbados. Slavery and Abolition. 35(3): 399-417.
Book Chapters:
- Reilly, Matthew C. (under review). Intimacies and Attachments: Households and Hucksters on the Barbadian Plantation. In Intimate Economies by K. Fogle and J. Nyman (eds.). University Press of Florida: Gainesville, FL.
- Reilly, Matthew C. (2016). “Poor Whites” on the Peripheries: “Poor White” and Afro-Barbadian Interaction on the Plantation. In Roots of Empire: Archaeologies of Freedom and Slavery in the Caribbean by L. Bates, J. Delle, and J. Chenoweth (eds.). University Press of Florida: Gainesville, FL, pp. 49-78.
- Reilly, Matthew C. (2015). The Politics of Work, “Poor Whites”, and Plantation Capitalism in Barbados. In Historical Archaeologies of Capitalism by Mark P. Leone and Jocelyn E. Knauf (eds.). Springer Press: New York, NY, pp. 375-397.
- Reilly, Matthew C. (2015). The Irish in Barbados: Labour, Landscapes and Legacies. In Caribbean Irish Connections by A. Donnell, M. McGarrity, and E. O’Callaghan (eds.). University of the West Indies Press: Kingston, Jamaica, pp. 47-63.
- Handler, Jerome S. and Matthew C. Reilly (2015). Father Antoine Biet’s Account Revisited: Perspectives on Irish Catholics in Mid-Seventeenth Century Barbados. In Caribbean Irish Connections by A. Donnell, M. McGarrity, and E. O’Callaghan (eds.). Kingston: University of the West Indies Press: Kingston, Jamaica, pp. 33-46.
Journal Articles and Other Publications:
- Hogan, Liam, Laura McAtackney, and Matthew C. Reilly (2016). The Irish in the Anglo-Caribbean: Servants or Slaves? History Ireland. March-April: 18-22.
- Reilly, Matthew C. (2014). The School of Female Industry: “Poor White” Education in the Era of Slavery. Journal of the Barbados Museum and Historical Society. Vol. LVV: 94-118.
- Reilly, Matthew C. (2013). Archaeological Approaches to the “Poor Whites” of Barbados: Tired Stereotypes and New Directions. Journal of the Barbados Museum and Historical Society. Vol. LVIV: 1-27.
- Armstrong, Douglas V., Karl S. Watson, and Matthew C. Reilly (2012). The 1646 Hapcott Map, Fort – (Trent) Plantation, St. James, Barbados: A Significant Resource for Research on Early Colonial Settlement in Barbados. Journal of the Barbados Museum and Historical Society. Vol. LVIII: 137-154.
