Propaganda and Power: Men, Women, Social Status, and Politics in Rural Connecticut during the Late Colonial and Early Republican Periods

Summary

Power relations and ideology have been my theoretical interest in archaeology. Through historical deconstruction and reassessing the meaning of material culture in sociocultural contexts, I have been able to show that objects had to be politicized in order to remove them from class competition and situate them as political symbols of rebellion and independence in late 18th century American communities. Feminist archaeology has recast that data as evidence of women’’s active roles in pursuing social status, supporting revolution, and negotiating a social climate in which the meaning of motherhood changed profoundly between 1720 and 1820. This paper will analyze how feminist theory altered interpretations of a data set from a late colonial/early republican period farming community in southeastern Connecticut.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• How Questions about Gender and Sexuality Matter   •
• Society for Historical Archaeology 2014

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology

Record Identifiers

PaperId(s): SYM-64,02