Over the past 40 years, no scholar has written so deeply or prolifically on the histories of Saint Domingue and the Haitian Revolution as David Geggus. Indeed, the scale of the research required to compile the population database of enslaved people in Saint Domingue across different labor sectors from 1770 to 1791 is a testament to years of work in French archives—I can think of no other scholar of Haiti who could make that heavy lift. As an outsider to the field of Haitian history, I am grateful for his intervention and to the editors of The Americas for giving me the opportunity to respond.

For many scholars, the history of Africans in the Atlantic world only becomes visible at the juncture of the history of ‘the slave’. However, the sources upon which most of these studies are based, and the organization of the colonial archive more generally operate as something of a trap, inviting researchers to see how African slaves embraced or manipulated colonial institutions and ideas for their own purposes. This article focuses on methodological and conceptual meta questions that challenge how historians conduct African-Atlantic history, arguing that sources of the African past exist in the Americas, if only we are open to seeing them.

Functional magnetic resonance imaging (FMRI) experiments frequently administer substantially adapted cognitive tests. This study was designed to identify FMRI correlates of a well-standardized clinical measure presented with minor adaptations. We administered the WAIS–III Symbol Search (SS) and a visuospatial control task to fifteen adults during FMRI. SS-related brain activity was identified, followed by analyses of activity related to performance level. Compared to the control task, SS was associated with greater activity in bilateral medial occipital, occipitoparietal, occipitotemporal, parietal, and dorsolateral prefrontal cortices (DLPFC). Across both tasks, slower processing speed was also related to greater activity in these areas, except right DLPFC. Greater activity in left DLPFC was specifically related to slower processing speed during SS. Performance was consistent with education levels. Findings suggest that SS performance involves regions associated with executive and visual processing. Furthermore, slower SS performance was related to greater recruitment of left hemisphere regions associated with executive function in other studies. (JINS, 2005, 11, 471–476.)

Peter Mark's “Portuguese” Style is a welcome contribution to the growing literature on the history and development of Atlantic world cultures. In particular, Mark examines the evolution and proliferation of “Portuguese”-style domestic architecture, primarily in Senegambia, but also in other parts of the Portuguese colonial world, including Cape Verde and Brazil. For Mark, “Portuguese”-style is an amalgamation of Jola and Manding architectural forms, and to a lesser extent, those of the Portuguese. This architectural style—sun-dried brick houses, rectangular in shape, with whitewashed walls, and a continuous veranda or vestibule at the entry—was most closely associated with Luso-Africans working as middlemen in the trade between the African interior and Portuguese traders on the coast.