The Dynamics of Small Things Remembered: Giving Voice to A Silenced Past

Summary

This is an abstract from the session entitled "“Historical Archaeology with Canon on the Side, Please”: In Honor of Mary C. Beaudry (1950-2020)" , at the 2022 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.

Mary Beaudry’s impact on archaeology is immense and reaches all corners of the discipline. More than anything, it was her commitment to the individual and their ability to make meaningful choices throughout the course of everyday life. Ultimately, she created a dynamic landscape where she gave a voice to people that would have otherwise been silenced. This paper focuses on two of the more profound impacts Mary has had on how I think through archaeology and material culture. The first entails the importance of interpreting the contextual nature of symbols in action and how they give meaning to and are given meaning by individuals. The second revolves around the understanding of the complex and shifting notions of home and household. The following pages will demonstrate Mary’s influence through my research detailing the experiences of rural Irish households between 1860 and 1930 in the Skibbereen area of County Cork, Ireland.   

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• “Historical Archaeology with Canon on the Side, Please”: In Honor of Mary C. Beaudry (1950-2020)   •
• Society for Historical Archaeology 2022

Keywords

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology