Book•
The Archaeology of Ethnicity: Constructing Identities in the Past and Present
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.
Citations
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TL;DR: In this paper, a case study of a region where national contests were intimately tied to personal identity is presented, where material culture, social ties, and landscape were mobilized by people for whom a former nationality became an ethnic identifier.
Abstract: Building on theories about the importance of national identity to ethnicity, this paper presents a case study of a region where national contests were intimately tied to personal identity. In the mid-nineteenth century, southern Colorado, long a part of Spain and then briefly Mexico, was conquered by the expanding United States. Material remains and historic documents attest to its residents' ensuing struggles over place, identity, and citizenship. Bilingual newspapers proclaimed that the region's Hispanics, who continued to call themselves Mexicanos, were just as ‘American’ as residents of other new US territories. Yet much of their material culture was rooted in centuries-old Hispanic traditions. The archaeology of a late nineteenth-century Mexicano site in the region provides an example of how material culture, social ties, and landscape were mobilized by people for whom a former nationality became an ethnic identifier.
22 citations
Book Chapter•
01 Jan 2008
TL;DR: Anati et al. as mentioned in this paper unify international case studies to explore questions of time, place, and identity through the archaeological and ethnoarchaeological analysis of rock art, contemporary Aboriginal art, and body art.
Abstract: Time, place, and identity are some of the main issues archaeologists try to confront through the empirical and analytical study of visual arts (rock art, portable art, and body art). The classical view of these archaeological remains as art for art’s sake, created by a gifted individual or having a specifi c/unique aesthetic quality (for example, Reinach in Ucko and Rosenfeld 1967) is no longer supported in the academic arena. Just as with any other archaeological remains, visual arts are fi lled with signifi cance and encode many levels of information about the identity of the artists and their sociocultural context. This information can be more or less successfully decoded through different ways of doing archaeology, understood as the study of past societies through the analysis of their material culture. Archaeological evidence is usually debris of human activities, often scattered fragments resulting from abandonment or destruction. However, the three particular artistic endeavours analysed in this book – rock art (images painted or engraved on rocks), portable art (decorated artefacts or artefacts shaped with specifi c forms), and body art (images painted or tattooed on the body) – are more than discarded fragments of human activity. They are both a refl ection of, and a constructing force behind, human culture. Likewise, even if it is internationally accepted that the meaning of the message of past art traditions (particularly when they are prehistoric) is inaccessible in the present, there are enough data hidden in the motifs to place them in cultural, spatial, and temporal contexts. Considered within this context, this book unites international case studies to explore questions of time, place, and identity through the archaeological and ethnoarchaeological analysis of rock art, contemporary Aboriginal art, and body art. The long and ongoing debate about the misuse and in/appropriateness of the term ‘art’ for past and nonWestern images is not central to this book (see Anati 2002; Conkey and
22 citations
Dissertation•
01 Dec 2016
TL;DR: In this paper, the development of identities within Iberia during the Roman conquest of the peninsula through the lens of cultural hybridism, urbanism and economic changes has been examined.
Abstract: This thesis examines the development of identities within Iberia during the Roman conquest of the peninsula through the lens of cultural hybridism, urbanism and economic changes The aim is to explore how local Iberian communities evolved culturally through centuries of pre-Roman contact, and how these interactions fuelled later adaptations to Roman rule Iberian communities, within this context, did not simply ‘become Roman’ but many acculturation theories have struggled to create alternatives to the ‘Romanization’ model successfully While ‘Romanization’ is clearly problematic, this thesis will challenge and adapt several acculturation models to explore the visibility of cultural hybridity within ‘Roman’ and Iberian communities, and alternatively suggest the emergence of a pan-Mediterranean cultural background These theories will then be applied in four case studies of prominent cities in southern Iberia: Italica (Santiponce), Hispalis (Sevilla), Corduba (Cordoba), and Augusta Emerita (Merida) In each of these case studies the thesis will address aspects of acculturation seen in the urban and economic evidence at those sites The conclusion of this thesis will indicate that, while further study should be conducted, a more flexible approach to cultural identity should be considered in light of the evidence presented in the case of the evidence seen in these four towns
22 citations
01 Jan 2013
22 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the importance of kinship, agricultural peers and occupational identity (being farmers) are recognized as potential drivers for the course of rural life in Roman Britain, and the extent to which "being Roman" was really a central concern of many agricultural communities is questioned.
Abstract: There has been a hesitancy in academic discussion of Roman Britain to address the potential significance of the identity and agency of rural communities in shaping the provincial landscape. This article seeks to address the reasons for this before delineating some avenues by which we might better investigate this issue. Through two case studies the importance of kinship, agricultural peers and occupational identity (being farmers) are recognised as potential drivers for the course of rural life in Roman Britain. In so doing the extent to which ‘being Roman’ was really a central concern of many agricultural communities is questioned.
22 citations