Archaeological ethnographies: Social dynamics of outdoor space

The spatial organization of food sharing in Early Postclassic households: an application of soil chemistry in Ancient Oaxaca, Mexico

“…Based on comparisons with ethnographically described households in Mesoamerica, I expected that the densest concentrations of organic debris would have been located in outdoor patio areas, where most food processing and household activities likely took place. Outdoor facilities allow multiple people to work together in a social setting and were important parts of everyday life in ancient Mesoamerica (Robin, 2002;Robin and Rothschild, 2002).…”

Love & loss in the 1960s

“…Referring to our own histories with things, we know/remember how it feels to be in a certain relation to things. Does this imply a more intersubjective and introspective researching and writing position than that of archaeological ethnography (Robin and Rothschild 2002, Hamilakis and Anagnostopoulus 2009, Meskell 2009, 2012? I think not, certainly considering the direction ethnography itself has taken in the last three decades or so.…”

The Gendered House

“…What emerges here is a conceptualization of the house not as a fixed material entity, but as an active and fluid social construct, the result of the full set of domestic practices carried out by household members (Moore 1986: ch. 6;Robin 2002;Robin and Rothschild 2002).…”

“…Building upon Bourdieu (1977; and Giddens (1984), a number of archaeologists and anthropologists have argued that built space is not simply to be understood as a backdrop for human action, but as an active cultural construct. Whereas earlier studies often concentrated on the embodiment of political processes and social control through domestic and public architecture (Ashmore 1989;Leone 1984;Robben 1989), a number of new theoretical strands have gradually emerged in the 1990s and 2000s, which stress the role of agency in the creation, transformation and experience of space and place (Ashmore 2002;Canuto and Yaeger 2000;Carsten and Hugh-Jones 1995;Joyce and Gillespie 2000;Parker Pearson and Richards 1994c;Robin and Brumfield 2008;Robin and Rothschild 2002;Souvatzi 2008). Similarly, Schlanger's (1992) idea of'persistent space' led to examining the social biographies of houses as enacted through continuous processes of building, rebuilding and abandonment (Ashmore 2002;Gerritsen 1999;Tringham 1995).…”