Innovative Approaches to Finding Agency in Objects

This collection contains the abstracts of the papers presented in the session entitled "Innovative Approaches to Finding Agency in Objects," at the 2020 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.

This session brings together scholarship intent on exploring themes of agency and habitus in the maritime archaeological record. When examing archaeological objects and datasets looking for personhood and individuals, it is crucial to incorporate anthropological theories on identity, entanglement, intersectionality, etc. The maritime community is a diverse, fluctuating arena, whose transitory nature makes it ideal for studying themes such as the material expression of identity through an anthropological lens. Personal tools and possessions, foodways, and occupational practices are represented in the archaeological record and can be used to identity aspects of individual identity as well as larger cultural paradigms.