Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Award: Effects of Social Change on Household Quality of Life and Social Cohesion

该项目将确定新兴的社会分化如何影响传统社会的家庭生活质量和社区社会凝聚力。当地家庭如何协商期望的生活质量？社区互动是否变得更加排外，只关注社会精英？考古学家假设，政治权威和经济实践不仅仅是统治精英的强制性组成部分；相反，家庭生活质量和社会凝聚力是基于道德期望和社区信任的高地位群体和普通民众的愿望和需求的平衡。最近的政治科学研究表明，明显的社会不平等不仅会破坏社区层面的信任，还会威胁到管理机构和公民参与。这个项目的目标是为这些当前的对话添加有意义的内容，因为它提供了丰富的数据集，关于人们如何谈判，成功与否，权力动态的长期变化。通过比较家庭和公共空间，Barry Kidder将研究在乌坎哈玛雅遗址的过渡时期，家庭生活质量和社区建设互动是如何变化的（或没有变化）。初步研究表明，前一个时期的生活质量高，社会繁荣，但后一个时期的不平等加剧。Kidder和他的同事们将结合大范围的挖掘、结合空间统计的地球化学研究，以及对考古和古植物学遗迹的分析，通过检查五个变量来重建过去的家庭生活质量：1)建筑投资，2)宴会习惯，3)家庭用品的多样性，4)贮藏/埋葬仪式的成本，5)空间的使用。空间统计与地球化学分析，特别是，将提高考古学研究古代家庭的能力，通过捕捉过去被忽视的活动模式。此外，由于考古打捞项目在该地区迅速扩大，该项目将通过对后代社区进行考古方法培训，从而促进未来就业，从而提高当地家庭的生活质量。通过在当地工作，而不是在坎昆的季节性工作，工资将重新投资于当地家庭和整个社区。研究成果将以报告、实地总结报告和在当地学校的实践活动的形式分发。这些组成部分将使当地居民有机会接触他们的文化遗产，并成为保护文化遗产的利益相关者。

This project will identify how emerging social differentiation can affect household quality of life and community social cohesion in traditional societies. How do local households negotiate an expected quality of life? Do community interactions shift to become more exclusive and focused on elite members of society? Archaeologists have postulated that political authority and economic practices are not just a coercive component of the ruling elite; rather, household quality of life and social cohesion are a balance of wants and needs of both high status groups and everyday people that are grounded in moral expectations and communal trust. Recent political science studies show pronounced social inequality not only undermines trust at the community level, it also threatens governing bodies and civic engagement. The goal of this project is to add meaningfuly to these current conversations because it provides rich data sets of long-term change on how people negotiate, successfully and unsuccessfully, power dynamics. By comparing households and communal spaces, Barry Kidder will examine how household quality of life and community-building interactions changed (or did not) during this transitional period at the Mayan site of Ucanha. Preliminary research indicates a high quality of life and commnunal prosperity during a former period but greater inequality during a latter. Combining broad-scale excavations, geochemical studies in conjunction with spatial statistics, and the analysis of archaeological and paleobotanical remains, Kidder and colleagues will reconstruct past household quality of life by examining five variables: 1) architectural investment, 2) feasting practices, 3) diversity of household goods, 4) costliness of caching/burial rituals, and 5) the use of space. Spatial statistics with geochemical analysis, particularly, will improve archaeology's ability to study ancient households by capturing patterns of overlooked past activity. Furthermore, this project will contribute to local household quality of life by training descendant communities in archaeological methods that will lead to future employment since archaeological salvage projects are rapidly expanding in the area. By working locally, as opposed to seasonal work in Cancun, salaries will be reinvested in local households and the entire community. Research results will be circulated as presentations, summarized field reports, and hands-on activities at local schools. These components will give local populations the opportunity to engage with their cultural heritage and to be a stakeholder in its preservation.