Abstract
Throughout the various analyses of the material world in Deerfield – architectural changes as well as ceramic tea and tablewares – two recurring themes emerged. The first was that gender separation was extant in virtually every ideology shaping gendered social relations from the mid-eighteenth through the early twentieth century. Nevertheless, families and individuals did not consistently adopt wholesale the gender ideals most fashionably current during their respective lifetimes – such as republican motherhood, the cult of domesticity, equal rights feminism, domestic reform, or other ideology. Rather, the ideals to which residents in Deerfield appeared to subscribe were frequently tempered by the unique evolutionary arc of their family. As such, the role of life cycle in shaping the material world was the second theme to emerge through the course of these analyses. The archaeological record was often affected by whether the couple was newly wed, had many young children at home, were in their peak earning years as a family, and so on.
Variations in gender separation under different ideologies as well as the influence of life cycle were clearly important to the lived experiences of Deerfield residents. Consequently, these two themes warranted further scrutiny and critical analyses, which are the foci of this chapter.
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Notes
- 1.
There are numerous cross-cultural examples that show that space and gender roles are not universally rigidly constructed or mutually exclusive. See duBoulay’s (1974; Greece), Kent (1983; Navajos in Utah), and Hodder (1995; Neolithic at Çatalhöyük).
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Rotman, D. (2009). Critical Analyses of Separate Spheres and the Role of Life Cycle in Shaping the Material World. In: Historical Archaeology of Gendered Lives. Contributions To Global Historical Archaeology. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-89668-7_6
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