Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Award: Relationships Between Consumer Behavior And Regional Identity

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Under the supervision of Dr. Patricia Crown, Erin Hegberg of the University of New Mexico will conduct doctoral research in historical archaeology to study the expansion of modern capitalism into frontier merchant economies and the attendant changes in identity and social ideas about race. By examining daily lives of those who were not necessarily rich or powerful, archaeology is ideally suited to consider issues of colonialism, the spread of capitalism, and social identity. These are important historical research themes for understanding modern racial and ethnic relations in the United States. The proposed research contributes to anthropology by examining the effects of emerging markets and mass-consumption on social networks and identity in the past. It also uses analysis methods that are suitable for other historic colonial and early capitalist contexts. Hegberg's research will examine how people create and maintain community and regional identities through consumer relationships developed to acquire and use material goods. It investigates consumer practices and social relationships of men and women living in Hispanic communities in New Mexico, AD 1821-1912. This period encompasses the Mexican and the American Territorial Periods as New Mexicans were drawn into the larger American racialized capitalist system. In the 19th century frontier, consumer relationships were charged with more than just economic convenience and reflected important networks that were essential to the survival of historic Hispanic settlements. Using detailed analysis of locally produced pottery, imported manufactured goods, and historic documents and advertisements, this project examines and compares consumer patterns at four Hispanic residential sites throughout New Mexico to understand which scale of social network - local or national - was most important to site residents. The results of the research will be the foundation of a doctoral dissertation and a series of articles, public talks, and journal publications, as well as local media outlets such as magazines, radio and genealogical groups. The research team will also partner with local cultural heritage institutions to develop a bi-lingual (English, Spanish) web exhibit based on the results of this research. The emphasis of the website will be to disseminate the research results in plain language, and to encourage user-participation in archaeological and historical interpretation through digital interactive media such as blogs, social networking, forums, or other user-generated content. This project will encourage the public to engage with ideas of race and the historic contexts for racialization in the American Southwest. Historical understandings of Hispanic identity is a particularly poignant topic in New Mexico where 47% of the population identified as Hispanic or Latino in 2013.