Personal Adornment and the Construction of Identity
Personal Adornment and the Construction of Identity

Author: Hannah V. Mattson

Publisher: Oxbow Books

Published: 2021-06-09

Total Pages: 379

ISBN-13: 1789255961

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Objects of adornment have been a subject of archaeological, historical, and ethnographic study for well over a century. Within archaeology, personal ornaments have traditionally been viewed as decorative embellishments associated with status and wealth, materializations of power relations and social strategies, or markers of underlying social categories such as those related to gender, class, and ethnic affiliation. Personal Adornment and the Construction of Identity seeks to understand these artefacts not as signals of steady, pre-existing cultural units and relations, but as important components in the active and contingent constitution of identities. Drawing on contemporary scholarship on materiality and relationality in archaeological and social theory, this book uses one genre of material culture - items of bodily adornment - to illustrate how humans and objects construct one another. Providing case studies spanning 10 countries, three continents, and more than 9,000 years of human history, the authors demonstrate the myriad and dynamic ways personal ornaments were intertwined with embodied practice and identity performativity, the creation and remaking of social memories, and relational collections of persons, materials, and practices in the past. The authors’ careful analyses of production methods and composition, curation/heirlooming and reworking, decorative attributes and iconography, position within assemblages, and depositional context illuminate the varied material and relational axes along which objects of adornment contained social value and meaning. When paired with the broad temporal and geographic scope collectively represented by these studies, we gain a deeper appreciation for the subtle but vital roles these items played in human lives.

meXicana Fashions
meXicana Fashions

Author: Aída Hurtado

Publisher: University of Texas Press

Published: 2020-01-10

Total Pages: 337

ISBN-13: 147731959X

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Collecting the perspectives of scholars who reflect on their own relationships to particular garments, analyze the politics of dress, and examine the role of consumerism and entrepreneurialism in the production of creating and selling a style, meXicana Fashions examines and searches for meaning in these visible, performative aspects of identity. Focusing primarily on Chicanas but also considering trends connected to other Latin American communities, the authors highlight specific constituencies that are defined by region (“Tejana style,” “L.A. style”), age group (“homie,” “chola”), and social class (marked by haute couture labels such as Carolina Herrera and Oscar de la Renta). The essays acknowledge the complex layers of these styles, which are not mutually exclusive but instead reflect a range of intersections in occupation, origin, personality, sexuality, and fads. Other elements include urban indigenous fashion shows, the shifting quinceañera market, “walking altars” on the Days of the Dead, plus-size clothing, huipiles in the workplace, and dressing in drag. Together, these chapters illuminate the full array of messages woven into a vibrant social fabric.

American Artifacts of Personal Adornment, 1680-1820
American Artifacts of Personal Adornment, 1680-1820

Author: Carolyn L. White

Publisher: Rowman Altamira

Published: 2005

Total Pages: 164

ISBN-13: 9780759105898

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Bracelets, buckles, buttons, and beads. Clasps, combs, and chains. Items of personal adornment fill museum collections and are regularly uncovered in historical period archaeological excavations. But until the publication of this comprehensive volume, there has been no basic guide to help curators, registrars, historians, archaeologists, or collectors identify this class of objects from colonial and early republican America. Carolyn L. White helps the reader understand and interpret these artifacts, discussing their source, manufacture, materials, function, and value in early American life. She uses them as a window on personal identity, showing how gender, age, ethnicity, and class were often displayed through the objects worn. White draws not only on the items themselves, but uses their portrayal in art, contemporary writings, advertisements, and business records to assess their meaning to their owners. A reference volume for the shelf of anyone interested in early American material culture. Over 100 illustrations and tables.

Personal Adornment and the Construction of Identity
Personal Adornment and the Construction of Identity

Author: Hannah V. Mattson

Publisher: Oxbow Books

Published: 2021-06-30

Total Pages: 224

ISBN-13: 1789255988

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Objects of adornment have been a subject of archaeological, historical, and ethnographic study for well over a century. Within archaeology, personal ornaments have traditionally been viewed as decorative embellishments associated with status and wealth, materializations of power relations and social strategies, or markers of underlying social categories such as those related to gender, class, and ethnic affiliation. Personal Adornment and the Construction of Identity seeks to understand these artefacts not as signals of steady, pre-existing cultural units and relations, but as important components in the active and contingent constitution of identities. Drawing on contemporary scholarship on materiality and relationality in archaeological and social theory, this book uses one genre of material culture - items of bodily adornment - to illustrate how humans and objects construct one another. Providing case studies spanning 10 countries, three continents, and more than 9,000 years of human history, the authors demonstrate the myriad and dynamic ways personal ornaments were intertwined with embodied practice and identity performativity, the creation and remaking of social memories, and relational collections of persons, materials, and practices in the past. The authors’ careful analyses of production methods and composition, curation/heirlooming and reworking, decorative attributes and iconography, position within assemblages, and depositional context illuminate the varied material and relational axes along which objects of adornment contained social value and meaning. When paired with the broad temporal and geographic scope collectively represented by these studies, we gain a deeper appreciation for the subtle but vital roles these items played in human lives.

Reading a Dynamic Canvas
Reading a Dynamic Canvas

Author: Cynthia S. Colburn

Publisher: Cambridge Scholars Publishing

Published: 2021-02-03

Total Pages: 235

ISBN-13: 1527565645

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Personal adornment, as an extension of the body, is a crucial component in social interaction. The active process of adorning the body can shape embodied identities, such as social status, ethnicity, gender, and age. As a result of its dynamic and performative nature, the body can often convey meaning more powerfully and convincingly than verbal communication. Yet adornment is not easily read and does not necessarily reflect actual lived experience. Rather, bodily adornment, and the performances that accompany it, can be manipulated to conceal or exaggerate reality, thus speaking more to identity discourse. The interpretation of such discourse must be grounded in an understanding of the context-specific and negotiable nature of adornment. The essays in this volume, which are united by their focus on material and visual evidence, cover a broad chronological and geographical span, from the ancient Near East to Roman Britain, and bring together innovative scholarly work on adornment by an international group of art historians and archaeologists. This attention to the archaeological evidence makes the volume a valuable resource, as those working with material or visual culture face unique methodological and theoretical challenges to the study of adornment.

Fashioned Selves
Fashioned Selves

Author: Megan Cifarelli

Publisher: Oxbow Books Limited

Published: 2019

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9781789252545

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Presents a wide ranging examination of the social roles of dressed bodies in ancient contexts, texts, and images.

Information Technologies and Social Orders
Information Technologies and Social Orders

Author: Carl J. Couch

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2017-09-08

Total Pages: 286

ISBN-13: 1351295187

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According to Carl J. Couch, the history of human society is one of successive, sometimes overlapping, information technologies used to process the various symbolic representations that inform social contexts. Unlike earlier “media” theorists who ignored social context in order to concentrate on the information technologies themselves, Couch implements a consistent theory of interpersonal and intergroup relations to describe the essential interface between information technologies and the social contexts in which they are used. Couch emphasizes the formative capacities of information technologies across historical epochs and cultures, and places them within the major institutional relations of various societies. He views social orders as reflexively shaped by the information technologies that participants use, and as susceptible to mass brutality and oppression due to oligarchic control though he hopes technology will remain humane. The original edition of this manuscript was nearly complete at the time of Couch’s death and was brought to completion by two of his closest associates. Now after two decades, during which its impact is indisputable, it has been updated for a new generation of students and scholars. Additions include discussions on books in the digital age, social media, mobile telephones, recordings, participatory culture, and more.

International Handbook of Historical Archaeology
International Handbook of Historical Archaeology

Author: Teresita Majewski

Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media

Published: 2009-06-07

Total Pages: 689

ISBN-13: 0387720715

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In studying the past, archaeologists have focused on the material remains of our ancestors. Prehistorians generally have only artifacts to study and rely on the diverse material record for their understanding of past societies and their behavior. Those involved in studying historically documented cultures not only have extensive material remains but also contemporary texts, images, and a range of investigative technologies to enable them to build a broader and more reflexive picture of how past societies, communities, and individuals operated and behaved. Increasingly, historical archaeology refers not to a particular period, place, or a method, but rather an approach that interrogates the tensions between artifacts and texts irrespective of context. In short, historical archaeology provides direct evidence for how humans have shaped the world we live in today. Historical archaeology is a branch of global archaeology that has grown in the last 40 years from its North American base into an increasingly global community of archaeologists each studying their area of the world in a historical context. Where historical archaeology started as part of the study of the post-Columbian societies of the United States and Canada, it has now expanded to interface with the post-medieval archaeologies of Europe and the diverse post-imperial experiences of Africa, Latin America, and Australasia. The 36 essays in the International Handbook of Historical Archaeology have been specially commissioned from the leading researchers in their fields, creating a wide-ranging digest of the increasingly global field of historical archaeology. The volume is divided into two sections, the first reviewing the key themes, issues, and approaches of historical archaeology today, and the second containing a series of case studies charting the development and current state of historical archaeological practice around the world. This key reference work captures the energy and diversity of this global discipline today.