Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Award: The Construction Of Identity And Foodways In A Borderland Zone

博士候选人惠特尼·古德温(Whitney Goodwin)将研究各团体如何积极协商自己的身份和从属关系，以驾驭边境地区复杂的社会和政治格局。边境地区，无论是过去的还是现在的，都是对共同身份基础上的传统进行频繁且往往有争议的重新定义的地方。对边界地区身份的考古方法为理解这些变化的复杂原因和后果提供了必要的长期和多标度视角。采取了哪些策略来抵制变化？这些策略成功了吗？来自邻近群体的传统是如何以及为什么有时被借用或挪用的？这项研究致力于通过检查多类材料来解决这些问题，以及这些材料是如何以强化或质疑并最终重新定义传统做法的方式结合在一起的。了解对边界相互作用的反应及其长期影响的差异具有重要意义，因为它们今天比人类历史上任何时候都更广泛和频繁地发生。洪都拉斯东北部的前西班牙裔人口位于中美洲和下中美洲的边界。尽管东北地区与北方和南方的团体关系发生了变化，但从公元300年左右开始，东北地区在1200多年的时间里仍然是一个具有凝聚力的实体，社会不平等程度最低，内部的风格和做法也是相同的。先前的研究表明，这种长期的稳定性可以归因于积极促进身份符号的积极推广，这些符号有意地融合了当地和外来的风格，以表达内部凝聚力和战略性的外部从属关系。然而，这一战略的实际执行情况仍未得到探索。本研究不仅依赖于风格分析，还结合了对陶瓷风格的分析，并关注陶瓷器皿在实践中是在哪里以及如何使用的。在许多情况下，描绘表达身份的符号或设计的容器与食物和做法结合在一起，这些食品和做法在定义或竞争这些身份时同样重要。通过结合陶瓷风格来观察食物方式--特定于一个群体的资源和与食物相关的做法--可以认识到多重或冲突身份的可能性。如果当地团体能够平衡当地传统和不断变化的从属关系，这是如何实现的？陶瓷风格和饮食方式是否表明了相同的外部联系，或者是否存在多种或相互竞争的影响？对公共宴请事件的考古发掘，以及这些背景下陶瓷器皿中烹饪残留物和风格元素的特征，将提供一个长期的视角，了解食物和风格是如何使用的。追踪这些重要的身份要素是如何随着时间的推移而结合在一起的，以及两者的影响来源，将提供信息，以理清身份谈判的过程，并强调群体接受、适当和抵制变化以应对互动的不同方式。该项目包括与后代社区领袖和政府代表进行重大合作，以增加区域博物馆中土著遗产的代表性，目的是鼓励游客参观当地社区。此外，洪都拉斯人类学本科生正在参与实地考察和社区合作，使他们能够完成完成学位的实习要求。

Whitney Goodwin, a PhD candidate, will investigate how groups actively negotiate their identities and affiliations to navigate the complex social and political landscapes of border areas. Border areas, both past and present, are locations of frequent and often contentious redefinitions of the traditions that underlie shared identities. Archaeological approaches to identity in border areas provide the long-term and multi-scalar perspective necessary for understanding the complex causes and consequences of these changes. What strategies were used to resist change and were they successful? How and why were traditions from neighboring groups sometimes borrowed or appropriated? This research is concerned with addressing these questions by examining multiple classes of materials and how these were combined in ways that reinforced or contested and eventually redefined traditional practices. Understanding variation in responses to border interactions and their long-term implications is significant given they occur more widely and frequently today than ever before in human history.Prehispanic populations of northeastern Honduras were positioned at the border of Mesoamerica and Lower Central America. Despite shifting affiliations with groups to the north and south, the northeastern region remained a cohesive entity with minimal social inequality and internally shared styles and practices for over 1,200 years, beginning around A.D. 300. Previous research suggests this long term stability can be attributed to the active promotion of symbols of identity that purposefully blended local and exotic styles to express both internal cohesion and strategic external affiliations. The actual implementation of this strategy, however, remains unexplored. Rather than rely on stylistic analyses alone, the present study combines analyses of ceramic style with a concern for where and how ceramic vessels were used in practice. In many cases, vessels that portray symbols or designs expressing identity were combined with foods and practices that were equally as important in defining or contesting those identities. By looking at foodways - the resources and food-related practices particular to a group - in conjunction with ceramic style, the possibility for multiple or conflicting identities is recognized. If local groups were able to balance local tradition with shifting affiliations, how was this accomplished? Were ceramic styles and foodways signaling the same external affiliations or were there multiple or competing influences represented? Archaeological excavations of communal feasting events and the characterization of cooking residues in and stylistic elements on ceramic vessels in these settings will provide a long-term perspective on how both foods and styles were employed. Tracing how these significant elements of identity were combined over time, and the source of influences for both, will provide information for disentangling the processes by which identity was negotiated and highlight the varied ways in which groups embrace, appropriate, and resist change in response to interaction. The project includes significant collaboration with descendent community leaders and government representatives to increase the representation of indigenous heritage in the regional museum, with the goal of encouraging tourists to visit local communities. Additionally, Honduran undergraduate anthropology students are partaking in fieldwork and community collaboration efforts, allowing them to fulfill their internship requirement for degree completion.