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ANTH 3420 Urban Archaeology OER
Archaeology is undoubtedly most famous for its exploration and discovery of “wonderful things” from the deep past in “exotic” places: Tutankhamun’s tomb! Lost Maya cities! Archaeologists are also keen sift through and ask questions of ancient garbage: What do these tools at Stonehenge suggest about Neolithic and Bronze Age social networks? These discoveries and questions are important for understanding where we came from. However, more and more archaeologists are turning their attention, their theory, and their methods to the recent past and contemporary worlds. This course explores a body of work that advances these efforts in American urban places and considers debates that make the more recent American urban world its object. The course then asks students to assess and evaluate various aspects of American urban life through exposure to a broad range of archaeological case studies.
Admins:
Week 3: Consumption, Conspicuous or Otherwise
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The three articles for this week focus on consumption patterns and identity, specifically ways that ethnicity, sexuality and gender roles can be studied by looking at how dominant social ideology, consumer choice and individual expression intersect through material culture. All three articles are from 1999. With that in mind, discuss the insights or lack of insights made on 1999 ideology with the study of more contemporary consumption patterns with standard archaeological and ethnographic methodology. Additionally, critique how similar studies on these areas today, 20 years later, may have different results and why.
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Kent and Gandia-Ojeda’s study examines whether the Puerto Ricans living in the U.S, mainly, in Lorain, Ohio, express their identity and ethnicity with residential landscaping. The study found that Puerto Ricans utilize various semi-fixed visual symbols on their residences and have adopted a pattern of maintaining their homes and yards to identify their diverse ethnicity. Multiple elements of the landscape that shows their distinctive ethnicity includes well-kept front yard flower gardens, religious yard shrines, and homes painted in pastel colors.
O’Donnell uses preliminary qualitative research based on semi-structured interviews to analyze the motivation behind women’s consumption of fetish fashion. The study endorses the theory that “fetishism is a male domain” and highlights the reason why women who are not fetish participate. The author hypothesizes that men have a virtuously sexual inspiration to consume fetish fashion, but women because they lack this distinctive motivation, must learn the meaning of the trend which will enable them to appreciate what they like and utilize the products according to their values. Accordingly, the author found that women are motivated to wear fetish fashions because it allows them to positively evaluate themselves leading to greater control and confidence in their sexual relationships.
Pearson and Mullins use ethnography (through physical assessment of clothes and accessories) of Barbie and the setting in which the dolls have been consumed to critically assess their social meaning. The authors assert that Barbie replicates a huge, yet feminine social role, attribute, life experiences, unspoken aspirations, and structural inequality, as shown in their clothing name set. Barbie clothing represents essential notions, some of which shows distinctive femininity and gender roles—particularly in a domestic atmosphere, for instance “Sweater Girl” to describe the household skill of knitting.
Today, “fetish” is a genre dominated by a woman who feels free to express themselves without reservations, and in the Puerto Rican community we continue to witness the social exchange of principals that many often convey. Where once it may have been landscaping, we now see flags and fashion. Comparably, 20 years later, Barbies fashion and domestic ideology have evolved into a working woman, and the homeowner (aka “the mansion”), independent of her male counterpart. Go Barbie!Reading the piece by Kathleen A. O’Donnell, “Good Girls Gone Bad: The Consumption of Fetish Fashion and the Sexual Empowerment of Women”, felt very relevant with today’s society when it comes to how women feel when consuming this type of fashion. Along the lines of fetish fashion, women that may not even partake in any of the behaviors of what mainstream media’s portrayal of fetish culture is, wear corsets as a fashion statement, curves make a woman feel more attractive and feeling attractive can give anyone a boost of confidence and confidence is a very powerful emotion. In contemporary society, some of our most popular female music artists wear garments that are exactly in line with fetish culture (latex clothing, corsets, lingerie, etc.) and the masses watch them and take their cues on how to ooze confidence in sexuality. These women we all watch, have at the least, the power to influence the society we live in. The concern I have is, how is this subjectively affecting (in the long run) women of color, women that have been dehumanized and over sexualized throughout history.
I found the study by Kent and Gandia-Ojeda, “The Puerto Rican Yard-Complex of Lorain, Ohio” very interesting in the way that landscapes can show the ethnicity of the residents of a community. The data retrieved gave a look into what standard of living the residents adhere to and the solidarity shown amongst the community. This makes me curious to know what I would find if I collected data from the landscape of my own neighborhood.
The Pearson and Mullins piece “Domesticating Barbie: An Archaeology of Barbie Material Culture and Domestic Ideology” was insightful. Barbie has always seemed to be current with what was occurring in society at the time and even pushed back at some notions of what some in society thought women should be engaged in (domesticated living). Today’s Barbie is far beyond what she was before, one can find Barbie in a wheelchair and a Barbie with a prosthetic leg, black Barbie comes in more than one shade of brown (dark skin to light skin) with or without an afro, she can be found tall, short, curvy and in the latest fashions with accessories to match, there is even a life size Barbie. In today’s society there is so much diversity in what a woman is capable of, in my opinion the closing sentence of this piece is a most profound statement, “Mattel aspires to present Barbie as an “authentic” archetype of femininity, but the company’s inability to anchor the doll’s domestic symbolism over four decades reflects that there is no essential domesticity (if not femininity) to identify”.Attachments:
You must be logged in to view attached files.The article “The Puerto Rican Yard”, discussed the ways two ethnic groups expressed themselves through the use of objects. These objects were either fixed (places like churches) semi fixed (signs, flags) or non fixed (clothing, mannerisms) The study focused on houses and front yard in Lorain, Ohio. This particular location was inhabited my mainly Mexicans/Mexican Americans in the 1920’s. As job opportunities lessened population transitioned Mexicans left, jobs openings became available and Puerto Rican’s were brought to work in physical labor. The study showed that Puerto Rican’s and Mexicans mainly used pastel colors for their houses. They also frequently used religious shrines like “La virgin de Guadalupe” on their front yards. A few displayed flags and many had wrought iron grill works. In current times it has become safer and people are more proud to represent their nationality and culture/ backgrounds. There has definitely an increase in ethnic expressing and embracement.
In the article “ Good gone bad…” we see another form of self expression through articles of clothing referred to as “fetish fashion”. Fetish fashion constitutes as corsets, stilettos , latex, leather clothing etc. 5 women were questioned on why they choose to indulge in this practice and what feelings do they have as a result of this fashion. The two common driving forces of fetish fashion were self empowerment and external praise. Many women expressed the self empowerment they felt while wearing these garments. It was a matter of choosing when and if to wear garments, a sense of control. These garments physically force and push women’s bodies in a different way, stilettos making you have more control of your feet and posture, corsets contouring the body, in some extremes shrinking waistlines, as well as forcing an upright posture. These alone can make a person feel elevated, elongated and elegant. With time one women stated without the garments these feelings lingered offering an elevated sense of self and sexual empowerment. Many expressed the external part of fetish fashion. That is others admiring their garments. It offers a sense of admiration, acknowledgement along with lust. These offer a feeling of power because these women can choose whether or not to wear the garments.
Lastly in the article “Domesticating Barbie…”, the concept of femininity is explored. Barbie has been around for a long time, since the 1960’s. She is a staple for little girls toys and most girls in the United States have owned one or dreamt of having one. Barbie started off being very representative of its time, her clothes and themes being society’s idea of femininity which is cleaning, cooking, and being a mother. Mattel (the company behind Barbie) introduces an astronaut themed Barbie, but it seemed to have been an extreme contrast of Barbies societal norms in order to avoid explicitly reinforcing thoughts of women’s societal norms at the time. Currently Barbie has come a long way. There are different shades of skins and themes available to different people in current times. It offers a more realistic approach to depicting women to a broad audience and consumers.
The articles of this week show a dichotomy of tradional versus non-traditional values, and their influences on society. For the purposes of this reflection, I will offers my insights on the given articles.
“The Puerto Rican Yard-Complex of Lorain, Ohio” shows how cultures adapt to new environments, as well as bring up the now famous idea of the tradional middle class American home. Imagery of a white picket fence come to mind. Thoughts on the American dream also creep into people’s consciousness. The idea that a person can come hear with nothing and make a name for themselves is endearing. And there where instances when this happened, for example with Andrew Carnegie. However, many factors come into play here. Sometimes, one has to be in the right place, and in the right time, to get ahead. Another common example that is used to promote the American dream is Bill Gates. However, most sources neglect to mention that his father was a very influential lawyer. Which goes to show you that it’s not what you know, but who you know. The article also goes on the mentions the upkeep of yards and the inclusions of flags. Once again, these are things that are considered to be an integral part of the American household.
“Domesticating Barbie: an archaeology of Barbie culture and domestic ideology” is about the now ubiquitous barbie doll, and its influence on American society. Barbie is a brand that became so popular, that even dolls made by different companies are called “barbie dolls.” It’s a similar situatuon to what happened with q-tips and band-aids, both are names for the product, but not name of product itself. The barbie doll is a triumph of marketing. It was around since the sixties and focused on topics of femininity. The dolls produced in the sixties showed the clothing in fashion, as well as the gender roles back that. Since then, barbie adapted to the changing norms of society. Of course, it is the duty of any business to appeal to the masses, if they want to stay afloat.
“Good girls gone bad: the consumption of fetish fashion and the sexual empowerment of women” ties in with the Barbie article quite well, actually. Both deal with changes in fashion over the years, with ideas of tradional dress and non tradional dress being present. The companys producing this clothing are have robust business systems in place, since they capitalise on current fashion trends. Granted, the clothing must be rather pricey since it’s rather niche, but if one has the money, they can have at it.
For this week’s reflection, I read three articles. The first was a study of the Puerto Rican yard complexes of Lorain, Ohio, which to determine if Puerto Ricans express their cultural identity through their use of the urban landscape. The second article seemed to be about how women use fashion and especially so-called fetish fashion to have a better outlook on themselves and how that allows them to have more control over their sexual lives. The third article is a study of Barbie merchandise and the image conveyed through said merchandise and the way it changed from 1959 to 1999.
In the yard complex study, Kent found that there were significant differences in urban landscape use between Hispanics and non-Hispanics. One thing the authors noticed is that Hispanics tended to live close to each other. The largest of these clusters exists in an area that was originally company housing for a tube factory. Today, we would see this as a form of urban segregation, where poorer disenfranchised groups are essentially forced to live in areas where they are exposed to higher levels of industrial pollution compared to richer and more likely whiter neighbors. The Kent article found that Puerto Ricans in Lorrain tended to paint their houses with Bastille colors of blue, yellow, brown and gray, while a significant percent of non-Hispanic homes were painted in white. The Ohio Puerto Rican color scheme matched that of what was then found in Puerto Rico. The study found that Puerto Ricans were much more likely to have lawn decorations, like deer or frogs, and religious ornamentation, like statues of the Virgin Mary, than non-Hispanics. There are a large number of graphs in the study, making it very clinical and sterile. If the study were done today, one thing that would be substantially different is that researchers would try to include members of the Puerto Rican community in the study or at least get their input rather than just relying on outside analysis. Today, they would have to focus not only on the Puerto Rican community but also any other Hispanic communities which may now be present in the town. They used census data to track history of the population distribution of the town but they seem to have used an unnamed city directory to determine the ethnicity of the residents of the homes in the study. If I were doing the study today, I would be much more rigorous in both identifying the criteria by which I judge someone to be Hispanic but also properly citing the information sources of my study.
The fetish fashion study by O’Donnell ultimately concludes that the change in posture forced by fetish fashions, such as stilettos and corsets, gave women a sense of self confidence which they felt they lacked before. Due to the sensitive nature of the topic, O’Donnell was only able to find five people willing to participate in the study. She used purposive sampling to try to get as much information as possible. The interviewees were mostly recruited from product shows and conventions. They told O’Donnell that they felt more secure, comfortable, and self aware when they were wearing fetish fashions. Even today, while O’Donnell would probably get more volunteers because our society is more open/accepting of fetish fashions and the life styles they represent, she would still have to interview them to get the information she needed. She would most likely have to use purposive sampling today because the number of women recruited would still be fairly small. Another thing she would probably do now is try to recruit both men and women, since both genders use fetish fashion.
Barbie is a world famous line of dolls made by Matel. The purpose of Pearson’s article is to analyze the image that Barbie is meant to convey through associated accessories, such as toy cars, dresses, uniforms, and her boyfriend Ken, etc. The study analyzed the toy company and dealer literature to determine the makeup and extent of the “Barbie Universe”. After determining what did or did not fit in the Barbie Universe, the researchers analyzed the toys in terms of functions and biases of the accessories. They focused on the American line of Barbie products, but did not include multimedia products. They found that while Barbie products do cover many social issues, she has always been first and foremost a symbol of domestic life. They found that Barbie is trying to appeal to both children and adults. Matel has tried to update Barbie’s image to the times by releasing so many versions of Barbie, as well as her associated “family” and other merchandise. The researchers have been able to separate the Barbie merchandise into several different themes, including high fashion and “return to the domestic ideal” (Pearson 15), “disappearance of domesticity” (Pearson 18), and “second shift,” where Barbie is trying to have all by going out to work in the morning and still cooking and cleaning at night (Pearson 26). If the study were conducted today, it would most likely follow the same methodology with slight modification, such as possibly adding additional categories such as foreign Barbies, multimedia and LBGTQ Barbies.
Attachments:
You must be logged in to view attached files.In Pearson and Mullins article entitled “Domestic Barbie” they go into the history on the now omnipresent doll, more specifically the roller coaster of subservience and independence. Barbie at her creation was a doll that some parents complained as being to “pin up like” for their children as her figure did not shy away from her breasts. Over time with her beau Ken, Barbie has aided in reducing the agency of woman shoving her from having her own Barbie-Q apron (a tradition that is often seen as male dominated) to having one that if I recall correctly having a set that incorporates an iron. This pushed Barbie into a roll of subservience of doing chores even if it’s not apparent. In my eyes I find that Barbie dolls are extremely problematic as her roles switch so dramatically between the independent woman with sets such as astronaut Barbie to horrible role-model with a set that had Barbie in a sleepover set that includes a scale.
In the article that saw a study of Puerto Rican’s yard complexes in Lorain, Ohio, the aim of the study was to determine if Puerto Ricans on the United States mainland express their ethnicity with residential landscaping. By examining 3 key questions regarding this matter and using methodology to divide 3 materials into fixed, semi fixed, and non-fixed materials. After examining about 250 houses they found out that the differences between Puerto Ricans and whites were minuscule.
In the article “Good Girls gone bad” which talks about the consumption of fetish fashion and it’s impact on woman. Before getting to the meat and potatoes of the article I was immediately taken aback by how Freud defined the idea of how we get fetishes, that being it’s out of fear of castration. I honestly have no words for this theory as it’s just such a strange idea. Continuing on with the article these fetish clothing twist and contort bodies in ways that normal clothing doesn’t. Whether its the extra height of the heels, or the cling of the leather, PVC or latex material, these new “feelings” can often empower women. This can often give woman a new sense of confidence taking on roles that they would unfortunately not have access to with mainstream clothing.
The article by Kent and Gandia-Ojeda is a way for us to look back at the social and geographical structure of that small town in ohio. In their article they give specific information about Lorain, Ohio in 1999. In the case of their article the 20 year gap between when it was written and now serves as a unique perspective on how Puerto Ricans expresses their ethnic identity. It is also a good source to use in order to show change over time if another anthropologist were to do a similar study of Lorain or another small town today. If a study were done today the results may show a decrease in the ways Puerto Ricans decorate their lawns due to our countries current policies and attitudes towards immigration or it could show and increase as a way of protecting those policies.
The article by O’Donnel to me seems dated. In the introduction she explains that fetish fashion isn’t, as most have previously thought, a “culturally constituted” type of fashion. She says that can’t be the case because people who aren’t “mainstream” also enjoy fetish fashions such as “homosexuals” and “consumers of tattooing”. This statement insinuates that these groups of people can’t be part of mainstream culture because their sexual orientation or body decorations. I wasn’t really conscious in the 90’s but to me this statement can’t be true. As the article goes on it talks about how women use fetish fashions to feel sexually empowered and good about themselves. This speaks more to how society has told women they should look and act. The women who feel good about themselves in this clothing were most likely raised to believe they should look more like the way that clothing makes them look rather than how they look without it.
The third article by Pearson and Mullins doesn’t really seem that dated at all. While not having seen a Barbie toy in a while I have within the last 2 years because of my younger cousins. Even without looking at what Barbie looks like today you could’ve guessed what she would be like in 20 years at the time the article was written due to the fact that we have data about Barbie string in the 50s. Certain patterns can be seen as Person and Mullins stated. If you were to look at Barbie today you would see her in the same outfits doing the same work and fulfilling the same societal standards
This week’s readings focused on how aspects of identity are exhibited through the use of material, whether domestically or on a person’s body. The authors took unconventional ideas of material culture and applied it to various situations to show how individuals or family groups express their identity or desired activities through their dress and yard decorations.
I found Kent and Gandia-Ojeda’s research methods somewhat questionable, as they used only last names to categorize which homes were “Hispanic” and “non-Hispanic.” This ignores both the potential self-definition of the residents and the fact that a Spanish-sounding last name does not necessarily indicate a Hispanic household. They also did not discuss how class might play into the presentation and upkeep of a front yard.
Considering all the readings together points to how material culture has the potential to shape and impart an individual’s self perception and ethnic identity. In contemporary times, a researcher could use the online presence of an individual or a collective group to show how self-representation affects the usage and meaning of material.
Nice summaries-now try and connect together with thread.
Great connections and summaries.
Nice work-good observations.
Great comments and observations on PR households! bring up in class-we should discuss.
Robert B. Kent and Augusto F Gandia-Ojeda’s article The Puerto Rican Yard-Complex of Lorain, Ohio discusses how Puerto Ricans are able to express their cultural identity in a majorly white populated city in Ohio, like placing flags displaying their nation. Kathleen A. O’Donnell’s Good Girls Gone Bad: The Consumption of Fetish Fashion and the Sexual Empowerment of Women discusses the culture of fetish fashion and how women are impacted by this fetish culture. Mariys Pearson and Paul R. Mullins’ Domesticating Barbie: An Archaeology of Barbie Material Culture and Domestic Ideology discusses how the Barbie doll has impacted the concept of femininity in its initial creation.
All these articles were published in 1999, and their methods of collecting their information can be considered controversial and dated. Kent, Ojeda’s and O’Donnell’s documents respectively seem dated, while Pearson and Mullins document does reflect more contemporary observations. Kent and Ojeda’s document places categorizes within ‘Hispanic’ and ‘Non-Hispanic’ households. The document also doesn’t consider how categorizing households by class could have an effect on the lifestyle of the Puerto Ricans living there. O’Donnell’s document signifies that fetish fashion doesn’t fit with the culture at the time. She compares enjoying fetish fashion to homosexuality, which are completely separate topics entirely. Pearson and Mullins observations aren’t that far off from contemporary observations. Barbie dolls have diversified in current years to represent different races, cultures, body-size and other facets of life instead of following the stereotypical and sometimes offensive representation of women. The Barbie dolls have now also entered into the working world, having jobs and owning businesses, showing today the vast steps and positivity which feminism has moved too.
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