Interaction and Isolation in Manislan Mariånas: 1500 BC–AD 1769

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Social Archaeologies and Islands" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

This paper addresses long-term processes of inter- and intra-island interaction and isolation in the Manislan Mariånas (Mariana Islands), spanning their first occupation (ca. 1500 BC) to the end of the Jesuit colonial mission (AD 1769). I focus on mobility, ocean communication and networking, engagement with the sea, and social intersectionality. CHamoru DNA today can unite within a single person multiple ancestors from Europe, Asia, America, Africa, and Oceania. No doubt, this fact speaks of a long history of cultural interactions but may however reflect different realities when grounded to specific CHamoru communities. To understand these particularities, we need to intersect social position, gender, age, and ethnicity to better understand the role that ocean engagement, communication and networking had on the people of the Mariånas. This intersectional focus also enables us to examine how interaction and isolation may not be dichotomous but coexist together. This is clearly exemplified by modern Spanish colonialism that “connected” the Mariånas to the emergent global world while fomenting inter-island disconnection and miscommunication.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Social Archaeologies and Islands   •
• Society for American Archaeology 89th Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA (2024)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 37954.0