Stephen A. Mrozowski

Bio: Stephen A. Mrozowski is an academic researcher from University of Massachusetts Boston. The author has contributed to research in topics: Historical archaeology & Prehistoric archaeology. The author has an hindex of 13, co-authored 39 publications receiving 728 citations. Previous affiliations of Stephen A. Mrozowski include Buffalo State College & University of Massachusetts Amherst.

The archaeology of class in urban America

Abstract: Preface 1. Introduction 2. Individuals in context: the world of eighteenth century Newport 3. Shifting the focus: archaeology of the urban household 4. A new world created: nineteenth century Lowell 5. Interrogating the experiment: Lowell's urban space and culture 6. Conclusion: contested spaces and the threads of everyday life 7. Epilogue: towards a dialectical archaeology of class Appendix A. Isolating and dating archaeological assemblages in the urban context.

Colonization and the Commodification of Nature

Abstract: This paper explores some of the theoretical issues surrounding the commodification of nature and its value as a research topic. In particular it examines the relationship between European colonization, the rise of capitalism and the increased use of abstract space. An appeal is also made for adding environmental history to the research agenda of historical archaeology. Case studies from South Africa and Virginia illustrate the manner in which abstract notions of space and the environment contributed to the commodification of nature. The Virginia case study from Jamestown Island provides a particularly vivid example of how micro- and macro-level environmental changes can be linked to important political and economic events.

Archaeobotanical analysis and interpretations of enslaved virginian plant use at rich neck plantation (44wb52)

Abstract: Archaeobotanical analysis remains one of the least-utilized strategies for investigating the lifeways of African diasporic peoples despite the fact that the field of African diaspora archaeology has grown exponentially over the last 30 years. We consider the botanical remains from the Rich Neck Slave Quarter site as constituting a significant line of evidence for illuminating the nature of plant use among enslaved Afro-Virginians. As a result of the ambitious flotation program undertaken during the excavation of the Rich Neck site, the botanical assemblage provides evidence allowing for interpretations of the role of plants in enslaved subsistence and potential medicinal practices. Our research illustrates that Afro-Virginians actively participated in the creation of cultural practices related to plant use, and strategically shifted their production activities in response to both internal and external factors that influenced their lives within the context of plantation slavery.

Can the Subaltern Speak

Abstract: In the present paper a research has been done on the essay ‘Can the Subaltern Speak’ by’ Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak’. It has been explained into much simpler language about what the author conveys for better understanding and further references. Also the criticism has been done by various critiques from various sources which is helpful from examination point of view. The paper has been divided into various contexts with an introduction and the conclusions. Also the references has been written that depicts the sources of criticism.

Europe and the People without History

Abstract: The intention of this work is to show that European expansion not only transformed the historical trajectory of non-European societies but also reconstituted the historical accounts of these societies before European intervention. It asserts that anthropology must pay more attention to history.

This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. the Climate

Abstract: Susan Goethel Campbell’s exhibition Field Guide explores the nature of art and the conceptual process through a multimedia installation that also reflects upon temporality, art history, ecology and science. Introduced with a time-lapse video of weather patterns captured by web cam over the course of an entire year, atmospheric effects assume the quality of translucent washes that blur distinctions between opacity and transparency, painting and technology. Aerial views of built environments set against expansive cityscapes present essential imagery for large-format digital woodblock prints realized in monochromatic tonals and saturated grids of yellow and blazing orange. Some combine undulating wood grain patterns with pinhole perforations to admit light; others consist of diaphanous walnut stains applied to hand-crafted paper, a self-referential allusion to art’s planarity and permeable membrane. The evanescence of these views is echoed in pristine impressions of filtered dust and shimmering milkweed assemblages contained in Plexiglas light boxes. Known as Asclepias, milkweed is an herbaceous flower named by Carl Linnaeus after Asclepius, the Greek god of healing, due to its efficacious medicinal powers. Like the weather, the milkweed’s reflective silver filaments respond to shifting currents of air paired with gently wafted treetops projected in the viewing room. Here pearls of light corresponding to the spheres and pinpricks of the prints on the walls float randomly over the fictitious frame of a cubical vitrine. Orbs appear and disappear amid nocturnal shadows as figments of the imagination, their languid dispersion eliciting not-ofthis-world sensations of suspension, ascent and transcendence. This joined to the mesmerizing stillness of a gallery pierced occasionally by the sound of supersonic aircraft, a reminder of the machine in the garden. Beyond, the history of landscape photography and the Romantic sublime are encoded in works titled “Old Stand” that render minuscule figures of stationary box photographers against the grandeur of ice-capped Rockies. In some of the works the human figure is effaced as a historical memory through exquisitely modulated rubbings whose unbounded spatiality contrasts with the reflexive interiority of the viewing room. Campbell’s incandescent vision of nature asserts the phenomenal power of art to elevate the human spirit in the presence of heart-stirring beauty. It dares to reaffirm the timeless union between the material and immaterial substance of the universe, between human life and the ephemera of the natural world. f i l m

The Accumulation of Capital

Abstract: We've all had the experience at some time or other of walking through a department store and being amazed at the many different articles we see there. One counter after another filled with this, that, and the other thing-some useful, some of little or no use. Almost every day a new gadget is advertised, electric blankets, or hats that look like chimneys, or a special kind of vitamin tablets. A common reaction of people as they look in shop windows is, "What will they think of next?"This article can also be found at the Monthly Review website, where most recent articles are published in full.Click here to purchase a PDF version of this article at the Monthly Review website.