Queering the Household Group: Challenging the Boundaries of an Archaeological Unit

Author(s): David G. Hyde

Year: 2015

Summary

The use of queer theory in archaeology aims to challenge static social structures. This paper focuses on how traditional assumptions of family and the household can be problematized through an investigation of non-household ‘households’ – such as saloons and other non-domestic residential spaces. In deconstructing the family, queer theory has elucidated the Western and modern biases that underlie the traditional definition of this social group. By challenging normative social constructions of family, this research engages with queer theory as a means to access a more fluid understanding of households as archaeological units.  Households can no longer be assumed to be a unit of analysis that is a natural or self-evident construction based in heterosexual relations, kinship, and lineage. 

Cite this Record

Queering the Household Group: Challenging the Boundaries of an Archaeological Unit. David G. Hyde. Presented at Society for Historical Archaeology, Seattle, Washington. 2015 ( tDAR id: 434174)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

min long: -129.199; min lat: 24.495 ; max long: -66.973; max lat: 49.359 ;

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology

Record Identifiers

PaperId(s): 389