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Journal ArticleDOI

Materializing Identities: An African Perspective

01 Sep 2000-Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory (Kluwer Academic Publishers-Plenum Publishers)-Vol. 7, Iss: 3, pp 187-217
TL;DR: The authors compare African pottery techniques at a subcontinental level and see whether there are recurrent patterns in their distribution and whether these can be related to specific social boundaries or historical processes of group formation.
Abstract: Archaeological approaches to social boundaries are currently emphasizing the dynamic nature of processes thought which individuals construct, maintain, and negotiate their identity. Although the integration of such concepts has led to a more accurate reconstruction of past social boundaries, it has also revealed a need for more sophisticated ways of interpreting material culture. This paper is a step in that direction. Focusing on pottery chaines operatoires and addressing questions about the salience and scale of particular behaviors, I seek to develop general propositions regarding the relationships between technological styles and aspects of social identity. To that end, I compare African pottery techniques at a subcontinental level and see whether there are recurrent patterns in their distribution and whether these can be related to specific social boundaries or historical processes of group formation.
Citations
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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This article lay out the central questions addressed by archaeologists studying craft production, discuss how ethnoarchaeology has contributed to our understanding of ancient production systems, and suggest avenues of further research that can benefit archaeological investigation of the organization of ceramic production.
Abstract: Ethnoarchaeological studies have longed served as a critical source of hypotheses, comparative data, and explanatory frameworks for archaeologists interested in describing and explaining ceramic production. In this paper, I lay out the central questions addressed by archaeologists studying craft production, discuss how ethnoarchaeology has contributed to our understanding of ancient production systems, and suggest avenues of further research that can benefit archaeological investigation of the organization of ceramic production.

126 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The authors highlights general interpretive trends that underlie and structure current debates and offers suggestions for how studies of relations among crafts, power, and social heterogeneity might be pursued profitably in the future.
Abstract: Ongoing debates over the significance of specialized production in ancient political economies frequently hinge on questions of whether elites or commoners controlled craft manufactures and whether the material or ideological import of these production processes was more significant in deciding power contests. Though long recognized, such queries were traditionally answered in relatively straightforward economic terms. Recently, these time-honored approaches have been questioned. An ever increasing number of authors are promoting varied takes on the causal linkages between political forms and processes, on the one hand, and patterns of production, distribution, and use of craft goods, on the other. The literature generated by these discussions is extensive, vibrant, and often confusing. Rather than trying to synthesize all reports and essays dealing with specialized manufacture, this paper highlights general interpretive trends that underlie and structure current debates. The concluding section offers suggestions for how studies of relations among crafts, power, and social heterogeneity might be pursued profitably in the future.

118 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The dynamic systems framework as discussed by the authors is an alternative to traditional approaches that study technological change, and the benefits of this framework are simultaneously methodological and metaphorical: Methodologically, the framework provides a coherent analytic process for studying empirical data to explain the complexity of technological change.
Abstract: The dynamic systems framework may be considered an alternative to traditional approaches that study technological change. The benefits of this framework are simultaneously methodological and metaphorical. Methodologically, the framework provides a coherent analytic process for studying empirical data to explain the complexity of technological change. Metaphorically, the framework appeals to local-scale “interactive mechanisms” to account for the origins of change. Applicability of the dynamic systems framework for studying technological change is illustrated with an archaeological case study: the emergence of the potter's wheel in southern Levant during the 4th millennium BC.

105 citations

01 Jan 2013
TL;DR: Applicability of the dynamic systems framework for studying technological change is illustrated with an archaeological case study: the emergence of the potter's wheel in southern Levant during the 4th millennium BC.

102 citations


Cites background from "Materializing Identities: An Africa..."

  • ...As clearly demonstrated by a broad spectrum of studies cross-cutting different but related disciplines (cultural anthropology, sociology, ethnosciences, archaeology, history), these myriad phenomena result from complex interactions between technical systems and social contexts (e.g., Akrich, 1994; Cresswell, 1996; Dobres and Hoffman, 1994, 1999; Gosselain, 2000; Latour and Lemonnier, 1994; Lechtman, 1977; Lechtman and Steinberg, 1979; ......

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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The last decade has seen a surge in ceramic ethnoarchaeological studies worldwide, covering such important topics as ceramic production, technological change, ceramic use and distribution, and social boundaries.
Abstract: The last decade has seen a surge in ceramic ethnoarchaeological studies worldwide, covering such important topics as ceramic production, technological change, ceramic use and distribution, and social boundaries. Some of the most exciting new Americanist research helps archaeologists refine models of ceramic production. Increasing numbers of non-Americanist studies use a technology and culture framework to examine manufacturing variability, the dynamics of cultural transmission between generations, and the articulation between ceramic technology and social boundaries. This review summarizes these recent trends, places current ethnoarchaeological research in its theoretical contexts, and looks to the future of research in a dynamic landscape in which ceramic production systems are undergoing rapid change. Many varieties of research currently now fall under the rubric of ceramic ethnoarchaeology, and Americanist archaeologist are encouraged to look beyond their own regionalist and theoretical paradigms to consult this wider literature.

98 citations


Cites background from "Materializing Identities: An Africa..."

  • ...More work also is needed on the nature of material correlates for social boundaries, which are complicated (e.g., Dietler and Herbich, 1994; Gosselain, 1998, 2000; MacEachern, 1998; Stark, 1999; Stark et al., 2000; Sterner, 1992; Welsch and Terrell, 1998) and exhibit clinal variability that remains…...

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  • ...…identities, can be studied within individual communities, within regions, and even across parts of continents (e.g., Cort and Lefferts, 2000; De Crits, 1994; Gelbert, 1999; Gosselain, 2000, pp. 204–207; Hosler, 1996; Mahias, 1993; Sillar, 1997, pp. 12–13; Vander Linden and Gosselain, 1996, p. 19)....

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  • ...Seeking the past in the present: Archaeological implications of ethnographic pottery studies in Kenya....

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  • ...Other steps in the manufacturing sequence are more sensitive to change, like decoration, firing techniques like smudging, and most postfiring treatments (e.g., Gelbert, 1999, p. 219; Gosselain, 2000, pp. 191–193)....

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References
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BookDOI
TL;DR: Farriss and Reddy as discussed by the authors presented a cultural biography of things: commoditization as process Igor Kopytoff Part II, and two kinds of value in the Eastern Solomon Islands William H. Davenport and William M. Cassanelli Part V.
Abstract: Foreword Nancy Farriss Preface Part I. Toward an anthropology of things: 1. Introduction: commodities and the politics of value Arjun Appadurai 2. The cultural biography of things: commoditization as process Igor Kopytoff Part II. Exchange, Consumption, and Display: 3. Two kinds of value in the Eastern Solomon Islands William H. Davenport 4. Newcomers to the world of goods: consumption among the Muria Gonds Alfred Gell Part III. Prestige, Commemoration, and Value: 5. Varna and the emergence of wealth in prehistoric Europe Colin Renfrew 6. Sacred commodities: the circulation of medieval relics Patrick Geary Part IV. Production Regimes and the Sociology of Demand: 7. Weavers and dealers: the authenticity of an oriental carpet Brian Spooner 8. Qat: changes in the production and consumption of a quasilegal commodity in northeast Africa Lee V. Cassanelli Part V. Historical Transformations and Commodity Codes: 9. The structure of a cultural crisis: thinking about cloth in France before and after the Revolution William M. Reddy 10. The origins of swadeshi (home industry): cloth and Indian society, 1700-1930 C. A. Bayly Index.

4,169 citations

Posted Content
TL;DR: The authors examine how things are sold and traded in a variety of social and cultural settings, both present and past, focusing on culturally defined aspects of exchange and socially regulated processes of circulation, illuminate the ways in which people find value in things and things give value to social relations.
Abstract: The meaning that people attribute to things necessarily derives from human transactions and motivations, particularly from how those things are used and circulated. The contributors to this volume examine how things are sold and traded in a variety of social and cultural settings, both present and past. Focusing on culturally defined aspects of exchange and socially regulated processes of circulation, the essays illuminate the ways in which people find value in things and things give value to social relations. By looking at things as if they lead social lives, the authors provide a new way to understand how value is externalized and sought after. They discuss a wide range of goods - from oriental carpets to human relics - to reveal both that the underlying logic of everyday economic life is not so far removed from that which explains the circulation of exotica, and that the distinction between contemporary economics and simpler, more distant ones is less obvious than has been thought. As the editor argues in his introduction, beneath the seeming infinitude of human wants, and the apparent multiplicity of material forms, there in fact lie complex, but specific, social and political mechanisms that regulate taste, trade, and desire. Containing contributions from American and British social anthropologists and historians, the volume bridges the disciplines of social history, cultural anthropology, and economics, and marks a major step in our understanding of the cultural basis of economic life and the sociology of culture. It will appeal to anthropologists, social historians, economists, archaeologists, and historians of art.

3,034 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors present a cultural biography of objects, which is a collection of objects related to the objects they study. But they do not discuss the relationships between objects.
Abstract: (1999). The cultural biography of objects. World Archaeology: Vol. 31, The Cultural Biography of Objects, pp. 169-178.

817 citations

Book
01 Jan 1997
TL;DR: Sian Jones as mentioned in this paper argues for a fundamentally different view of ethnicity, as a complex dynamic form of identification, requiring radical changes in archaeological analysis and interpretation, and presents a comprehensive and critical synthesis of recent theories of ethnicity in the human sciences.
Abstract: The question of ethnicity is highly controversial in contemporary archaeology. Indigenous and nationalist claims to territory, often rely on reconstructions of the past based on the traditional identification of 'cultures' from archaeological remains. Sian Jones responds to the need for a reassessment of the ways in which social groups are identified in the archaeological record, with a comprehensive and critical synthesis of recent theories of ethnicity in the human sciences. In doing so, she argues for a fundamentally different view of ethnicity, as a complex dynamic form of identification, requiring radical changes in archaeological analysis and interpretation.

816 citations