The cultural creation of the feminine gender: An example from 19th-century military households at Fort Independence, Boston

Engendered and Feminist Archaeologies of the Recent and Documented Pasts

“…Likewise, there has been no shortage of research on male-dominated sites such as forts and military installations, lumber camps, saloons, gold rush settlements, and fraternities (e.g., Clements, 1993;Comer, 1996;Hardesty, 1994;Starbuck, 1994), but with few exceptions (e.g., Knapp and Piggott, 1997;Pappas, 2004;Wilkie, 1998) the role that gender norms and expectations played in structuring these societies has been lacking in interpretations.…”

The Recovery of Meaning: Historical Archaeology in the Eastern United States, by Mark P. Leone and Parker B. Potter, Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington D.C. 1992

“…The importance of Mrs. Brown's roles in social rituals necessary fo r maintaining high social position, such as Victorian dining and teas, are not considered (cf. Clements, 1993. Wall 1989.…”

“…Anderson and Moore also appear unaware of the gendered ideological significance of the gothic revival, which in th e V.S. expressed the ascendancy in American social ideals of women's religious-<iomestic values over men's capitalistic va lues (Spencer-Wood 1991, 1993.…”

“…In ; deve,oping ideologies of domestic reform tbat created acceptable "domestic" public professions for women, and brought women's moral-domestic values to the public sphere, including cemeteries and gravestones (Spencer-Wood 1987b. 1991, 1993. Most importantly, McGuire does not address how gravestone and cemetery styles express the fu ndamental struggle, negotiation and cultural mediation between the gendered ideologies of male capitalistic materialistic display and fe male moral egalitarianism that…”