Men do Art and Women do Craft, but Both can do Archaeology: Gender and Civilian Internment on the Isle of Man

Summary

The British interned both men and women on the Isle of Man during World War 2. The men were housed in camps in Douglas, Ramsay and Peel, and the women (and later, married couples) were in a large camp comprising both Port Erin and Port St Mary. Each camp developed its own sub-culture, but gender stereotypes amongst both staff and internees created different expectations. Famous artists produced important, innovative works in the men's camps, where newspapers were also regularly published., but the women instead created exchange networks utilizing their domestic skills. This has resulted in better representation of male internment in the surviving materials, so receiving more academic attention. A contrast to the gendered activity was archaeological excavation by Gerhard Bersu and his wife Maria, which involved both men and women.The excavations physically took place outside the camps, and also outside at least some of the contemporary expectations of gender.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for Historical Archaeology 2015   •
• Intimate Archaeologies of World War II

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Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology

Record Identifiers

PaperId(s): 196