From Ethnogenesis to Ethnic Segmentation in the Wabash Valley: Constructing Identity and Houses in Great Lakes Fur Trade Society

Abstract

This study asks the question, "What happens when the colonizers become the colonized?" It examines the social, cultural and political-economic transformations that took place as first the British and then the Americans wrested control of Great Lakes fur trade from the French and their Native American allies. One result was the ethnic segmentation of the fur trade labor market, which attempted to relegate Canadiens to the role of fur trade laborers. In response Canadien traders constructed homes and identities that were constitutive of both their fur trade society heritage and their political-economic position.

Obsidian Source Use in the Greater Yellowstone Area, Wyoming Basin, and Central Rocky Mountains

“…The kinds of changes that occur include new forms of settlement strategies, economic decisions, meal preparation and food practices, and land use, as well as intermarriage, the use of new technologies and new goods, emulating the practices of others, production of new commodities, attaching new meanings to objects, and incorporating intercultural practices into daily lives. The material consequences of identity change may be manifested in foodways (food choice and preparation), import and export of nonlocal materials, spatial distributions, and architecture (housing and construction techniques) (Lightfoot 2005;Lightfoot et al 1998;Mann 2008;Nassaney 2008;Reitz 1990).…”

Beyond Ethnic Boundaries: Architectural Practices and Social Identity in the Mandara Highlands, Cameroon

“…One of their key findings is that material style contributes to the recognition and formulation of ethnicity and is structured by it (David et al 1991). They have shown, in light of the work of Hodder (1982) and other research carried out within Africanist archaeology (Cruz 2011; Gosselain 2000; Guèye 2011; Lane 2015; Macdonald 2011; Mann 2008; Mayor 2010; Richard 2015) that some distinctive forms of material culture may be actively maintained and withdrawn in the process of signalling ethnicity, while other forms may cross-cut ethnic boundaries.…”

An Archaeological And Historical Search For German Ethnicity At The Janis-Ziegler Site (23sg272)

“…In historical archaeology of North America, scholars have focused on finding evidence of the ethnic identity of the French (e.g., Mann 2008;Nassaney 2008;Scott 2001a;Steen 2002), and increasingly of Africans (e.g., Babson 1990;Fennell 2000;Ferguson 1992;McDavid 2002). However, evidence of German ethnicity has been largely ignored by historical archaeologists except for a few articles and monographs (e.g., Groover 1994;Elliott and Elliott 2002;Penner 1997;South 1977).…”

“…Past studies of ethnicity in America have focused on architecture (Groover 1994(Groover , 2003Elliott and Elliott 2002;Penner 1997;Mann 2008), foodways (Scott 2001b; Groover 1994;Dietler 2007), and ceramics (Elliott and Elliott 2002;Ferguson 1992). Charles van Ravenswaay (1977:13) wrote that the new German immigrants probably felt isolated to some extent from the other ethnic groups living around them, allowing them to keep some of their old German customs.…”

“…Faunal remains may reveal the dietary habits of the Ziegler family, which could then be compared to those from other German households, such as the Gibbs farmstead (Groover 2003), and possibly compared to faunal remains from a contemporaneous French household. At other sites, ceramics have been useful in identifying consumer choice in relation to ethnicity (Elliott and Elliott 2002;Groover 2003;Mann 2008). By the 1830s, Ste.…”