Newlyweds, Young Families, and Spinsters: A Consideration of Developmental Cycle in Historical Archaeologies of Gender

Abstract

The social relations of class, gender, and ethnicity affected individuals and families in the nineteenth century and shaped (as well as were shaped by) uses of the material world. Changes in demographic composition of the household, successions in land ownership, and other events that altered the developmental course of the family unit, however, were also significant. Variations in the material and spatial expressions of gender ideologies, for example, were more than simply deviations from middle-class cultural norms. They represented the active negotiation of dominant ideologies and the construction of alternate meaningful gender relations and forms of domesticity.

The relationship of home renovation and gender at suburban housing of Semarang city in Indonesia

“…The gender determinants were identified as influencing factors in the decision to conduct home renovation, including the gender roles and relations of family members. Gender roles and relations also include the individual conditions related to the level of education, sex, job type, income and assets ownership (Rotman, 2005;Safran-Norton, 2010). In addition, gender influence is also visible in the analysis of family perceptions towards house function as a means to enhance life quality (Munro & Smith, 1989;Shrestha, 2000), and is adjusted to fit the family life cycle.…”

“…Under these circumstances, the development of persons is an important factor in observing the performance of gender relations roles. Gender relations play siginificant functions in participation and decision making for family subsistence (Soeharso & Kusumowidagdo, 2016;Rotman, 2005). A common instance involves the determination of the specific area to revamp and is possibly influenced by the family head, regardless of mutual relationship or power difference.…”

Ideas versus things: the balancing act of interpreting historic house museums

“…Moreover, these are the material indicators that we as archaeologists have tended to use as evidence for a past household's acceptance of and participation in the cult of domesticity (Wall 1991, Rotman 2001, 2005.…”