See How We Are: Representing Identity in the Ancient Americas

“Identity” is a broad term that can be used in a number of ways, with varying meanings. Focusing on the definition “presentation of a group or individual's perceived qualities to other members of the group or to outsiders,” this session explores the way in which identity has been defined in the Pre-Columbian Americas. Identity types can be political, ethnic, social, gendered, or involve leadership, while strategies of representation may include landscape modification, architecture, body modification, costume, or visual arts. Chief among the questions to be explored is what kinds of identities were important, and what strategies for representing membership in an identity group were used. Issues of alterity, propaganda, and conflict, as well as the creation and maintenance of normative structures, are explored.