Convened By
Lisa Frink (USA), Agni Klintuni Boedhihartono (Indonesia) and Louise Strobeck (Sweden)
Theme Details
This theme examines what archaeologists know about power and gender relations in past societies, how they know it and how this knowledge is used in the present. It also considers how these issues inform professional archaeological practice as well as how a politically and socially aware archaeology might differ from, and link to, other forms of archaeology.
Sessions
Gender And Hide Production: Archaeological, Biological, And Ethnological Perspectives
Organized By
Lisa Frink (USA) and Kathryn Weedman (USA)
Session Details
Organisers
Lisa Frink
244 Elkins Circle
Henderson, NV 89074
lmfrink@earthlink.net
Dr Kathryn Weedman,
Visiting Assistant Professor,
Department of Anthropology,
University of Florida,
1112 Turlington Hall, Gainsville,
Florida 32611.
Ph: 3523922253,
Fax: 3523926929
Hide production is an activity that geographically, temporally, and behaviorally spans the scale of human communities. Production of skins, whether dik-dik, fish, or fox is an activity that is found among mobile foragers, semi-sedentary hunter-fisher-gatherers, and people on farmsteads. Further, the activity of hide production is often a highly sexed activity, whether female or male, often the perceived gender of the individual dictates the type of processing, when and where the processing is accomplished, and even what this activity and outcome may mean.
This session will seek to illuminate the complexities of hide production, highlighting the gendered nature of this economic and social contribution, share the comparative potential of international research, magnify the lived indigenous knowledge concerning hide production, and explore the methodological and theoretical possibilities of fully comprehending the spectrum of skin preparation and production. In addition this session seeks to elongate the definition of hide production to include not only the preparation and production of a skin but to the social, economic, political, and economic contexts that surround the productive activity: from the kill to the family dinner pot, the opportunistic hyena or the 19th century Russian parka, and the ground.
We are looking for papers that approach all facets of skin preparation: lithic, bone, and site arrangement analysis, experimental studies, indigenous knowledge, theoretical and methodological offerings, and ethnographic and ethnohistoric contributions are all welcome. For instance:
Native/Indigenous views of hide preparation
· women as experts
· incorporation of indigenous perspectives into interpretive models
· the multivocality of the meanings of hide production
Hide Production and Archaeological Method and Theory Building
· importing women as producers into theoretical models of technological change and site formation
· using gendered hide production to further understand and question site use interpretations
· archaeological labeling and the masking of gendered activity
Bone, Lithic, and Spatial Use Studies
· utilizing gendered activity patterns of production in bone analysis
· women and tools; can we “see” women through tools?
· women and the production and curation of skinning tools
· can we demonstrate gendered tool use
· recognizing (gendered) site use patterns and activity areas
Ethnographic, Ethnohistoric, and Ethnoarchaeological and Experimental Approaches
· noticing and documenting the continued activities of women and hide production (where, when, how, who, why)
· what modern studies can offer analogical models
· women’s productive labor (furs/hides) and colonial expansion
· how women have engaged with and effected changing technology
· repercussions of changing technologies
· reconstruction of past productive technologies and activities
Sexual Division of Labor and Economics
· analyzing the political, economic, religious, and social context of gendered hide production
· gendered tools: their use and meaning
· the retention, rejection, or integration of “traditional” skinning technologies (who uses what and when/why)
· technological change and access to “new” productive materials (who gets what and when/why)
Participants and Perspectives
We will both invite and consider submitted papers from participants. The session organizers will seek a broad range of perspectives (academic, non-academic, and Indigenous) using various theoretical (processual, post-processual, queer theory) and methodological approaches (qualitative, quantitative, reconstructive) concerning the gendered nature of hide production.
Format
Discussants will have 10-15 minutes to present a paper – after each paper there will be time for questions and discussion by the other participants and the attending audience. Further this session will have at least one discussant that will engage with the participants and audience throughout the session and will offer a synthesis of the program and individual papers
Presentations
These Boots Were Made For Walking: Moccasin Production, Gender And The Late Prehistoric Hide Working Sequence On The High Plains Of Colorado.
Kevin Gilmore (University of Denver Archaeological Research Institute) The Ubiquitous Tanged Endscraper
Alice B. Kehoe (University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee)
Trading Identity: Gender, Change, And Production In Western Alaska
Lisa Frink (University of Wisconsin, Madison) The Shifting Role of Women and Women’s Labor on the Protohistoric Southern High Plains
Judith A. Habicht-Mauche (University of California, Santa Cruz)
Hide-working Amongst Descendants Of Khoekhoen Pastoralists In The Northern Cape, South Africa
Lita Webley (Albany Museum, South Africa) It’s All In The Move: Virilocal Residence Patterns, Hideworking Learning Systems, and Stone-Tool Morphology in Two Southern Ethiopian Societies
Kathryn Weedman (University of Florida)
Chewing Hides In Clothing Manufacture Not A Universal Among Alaskan Eskim
Susan L. Steen (University of Alberta) Hide Tanning, The Act of Reviving
Morgan Baillargeon (Curator of Plains Ethnology at the Canadian Museum of Civilization)
Gender And The Organization Of Lithic Technology Among Contemporary Women Hideworkers Of Konso, Ethiopia
Steven A. Brandt (University of Florida) Bison Hide Production and Forager Identities on the North American Plains
Laura L. Scheiber (Archaeological Research Facility, University of California-Berkeley)
Gender Visibility And Division Of Inupiat Labor In An Arctic Industrial Enterprise
Mark S. Cassell (National Park Service)
Session Time
Day Monday Date 23rd June
Time 9AM-1PM Room Pryzbyla Center C
Gender Research From Global Perspectives
Organized By
Louise Strobeck (Sweden) and Barbara Voss (USA)
Session Details
Organizers: Louise Strobeck
Department of Archaeology and Ancient History
Lund University
Sandgatan 1 223 50
Lund, SWEDEN
Email: Louise.Strobeck@ark.lu.se
Barbara L. Voss
Department of Cultural and Social Anthropology
Stanford University
Stanford, CA 94305 USA
Email: bvoss@stanford.edu
For several decades, feminist theories of gender and sexuality have relied implicitly or explicitly on global, cross-cultural comparisons to substantiate theories of gender and sexuality. In the 1970s, international studies were used to postulate general aspects of sex/gender systems. In 1980s and the 1990s, comparisons were performed between different cultures to demonstrate variability and multiplicity in gender formations and in gender and sexual relations. Whether universalizing or particularizing, global perspectives have been integral to theories of gender and sexuality.
The purpose of this session is to encourage further development of research on gender and sexuality by fostering international dialogue and comparisons between studies undertaken throughout the world. What is the role of the global context in archaeological theories of gender, sex, sexuality, and the body? How has gender-focused archaeological research been shaped by regional/national histories of gender politics, and by cultural differences in gender and sexual norms, practices, and ideologies? For archaeologists who conduct research outside their home country or culture, how has the resulting intercultural dialogue transformed and challenged theories of gender in the past? How do different theoretical schools shape the archaeological study of gender? We are particularly interested in how our theoretical, regional, and social positioning regarding gender shapes specific aspects of archaeological research, including research questions, terminologies, methodologies, field and laboratory techniques, source materials, and interpretations.
Proposed Format:
As we have discussed with WAC5 program organizers, we propose that this session occur in two parts, both to be held in one morning. The first part of the session, to be held during a 9-11am slot, will be a conventional panel session. Following a short introduction by the session chairs, session participants will each present a 10-minute position paper or other presentation. The second part of the session, to be held during a 11:30am-1:30pm slot on the same day, will be a roundtable discussion of the issues raised during the panel presentations. The session organizers will moderate the discussion, which will allow both for interchange between the presenters and for audience participation.
For the first part of the session, we suggest the following order for the 10-minute presentations:
Brief Introduction (Voss and Strobeck)
1. Strobeck
2. Mina
3. Wicker
4. Marton
5. Smith
6. Welinder
7. Matsumoto
8. Sterling
9. Barnes
10. Hollimon
11. Nelson
12. Voss
Audiovisual equipment required:
Powerpoint projection equipment
Slide projector
Overhead projector
Presentations
Gender In Southeastern Archaeology: Its Past And Its Future
Jodi Barnes (American University, USA) The Archaeology of Gender in Prehistoric North America: Global and Local Perspectives
Sandra Hollimon (Sonoma State University, USA)
The Shrewd Princess And The Looms: The Rise And Structural Change Of Prehistoric Textile Production As A Typical Women’s Housework In Eastern Europe, Highlighting The Territory Of Hungary
Erzsébet Marton (National Office of the Cultural Heritage, Hungary) Time for Reconciliation: Gender Archaeology and its mediator role for the
study of Neolithic and Early Bronze Age anthropomorphic figurines from the Aegean
Maria Mina (Institute of Archaeology, University College London, Great Britain)
Observations From A Global Conference On Gender
Sarah M. Nelson (University of Denver, USA) Gendered analysis of Dorothy Garrod’s field and academic career
Pamela Smith (Cambridge University, United Kingdom)
A Black Feminist Here And Abroad
Kathleen Sterling (University of California, Berkeley, USA) The Interdisciplinary Twist in Gender Archaeology
Louise Strobeck (Lund University, Sweden)
Sexology, The Sex/gender System, And Performativity: Theoretical Paradigms In Anglo-American Sexuality Studies And Their Implications For Archaeological Research
Barbara Voss (Stanford University, USA) Children, men, and old folks within the gender perspective
Stig Welinder (Mid Sweden University, Sweden)
The Deleterious Effect Of Typological Classification On The Search For Agency In Gendered Archaeology
Nancy Wicker (University of Mississippi, USA) The Corporeality of Birthing in Prehistory
Emer O’Donnell (Department of Archaeology, Flinders University, Adelaide, South Australia)
Theory, Society And Politics: Intertwined Factors Influencing The Practice Of Gender Archaeology In Japan
Naoko Matsumoto (Department of Archaeology, Okayama University)
Session Time
Day Sunday Date 22nd June
Time 9AM-1PM Room Pryzbyla Center C
Feminist Archaeologies
Organized By
Suzanne Spencer-Wood (USA)
Session Details
Papers in this session take feminist approaches to the interpretation of archaeological remains. The session as a whole demonstrates how post-modern feminist approaches ask about and analyze historic diversity in gender roles, voices, identities, ideologies, and relationships. Material embodiments of gender power dynamics are highlighted, especially women’s active social agency, even in male dominated cultural situations. Many papers relate expressions of gender systems in historic built environments and cultural landscapes to artifacts.
Presentations
Feminist Historical Archaeologies
Suzanne M. Spencer-Wood (Oakland University and Harvard University, USA) Remaking the landscape – archaeology, landscape and gender at Sydney Cove
Mary Casey (University of Sydney, Australia)
Archaeologies Of Engendering Institutions
Lu Ann De Cunzo (University of Delaware, USA) Classical Greek Women’s Ritual Processions: Manifestations of Women’s Power
Marilyn Goldberg (Chair of the dept. of classics, University of Maryland, Baltimore County)
Searching For Women’s Lives In The Archaeology Of The Interior Plateau, Western North America
Celia Nord (Chase and District Museum and Archives, Chase, B.C., Canada) and Simon Fraser (University-Secwepemc Education Institute, Kamloops, B.C. Canada) Domestic and public production and use of chipped-stone tools in Bronze Age eastern Balkans
Dr. Svoboda Sirakova (Institute of Archaeology and Museum, 2 Saborns St., 1000 Sofia, Bulgaria)
Session Time
Day Monday Date 23rd June
Time 4-6PM Room Pryzbyla Center C