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Publication Date
2019
First Advisor
Elizabeth A. Klarich
Document Type
Honors Project
Degree Name
Bachelor of Arts
Department
Anthropology
Keywords
Archaeology, Anthropology, Class, Household archaeology, Material culture, Whately, 18th century, 19th century, Farming, Western Massachusetts
Abstract
This research project has two primary goals. First, it uncovers and explores the daily life of Consider Waite and his family through archival research and an archaeological excavation of their homestead, which has remained uninhabited and minimally impacted for almost 200 years. Secondly, in exploring the Waites’ homestead, I argue that the predominant narrative of “daily life” presented by historic New England archaeology put forward disproportionately represents elites, and ignores middle and lower class histories. Using theoretical frameworks from gender archaeology and Marxist anthropology, this research project explicitly focuses on the representation of class - analyzing the seemingly mundane aspects of one non-elite individual’s life, and contextualizing it within existing research on material culture and local history at a time Caroline Merchant (2010) has dubbed “the Capitalist Ecological Revolution.” I suggest an approach, which, instead of attempting to determine an objective truth, embraces the subjectivity of individual’s lived experiences and challenges inherited biases in historic archaeology.
Rights
©2019 Gwendolyn Ruth Jones Access limited to the Smith College community and other researchers while on campus. Smith College community members also may access from off-campus using a Smith College log-in. Other off-campus researchers may request a copy through Interlibrary Loan for personal use.
Language
English
Recommended Citation
Jones, Gwendolyn Ruth, "An exploration of class and capitalism at the turn of the 19th century through archaeology at MacLeish Field Station" (2019). Honors Project, Smith College, Northampton, MA.
https://scholarworks.smith.edu/theses/2139
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Comments
52 pages : color illustrations, color map, facsimiles. Includes bibliographical references (pages 48-52)