Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Award: Establishment Of Social Ties In Traditional Rural Communities

本博士论文项目的目标是研究在社会、宗教和政治不确定时期，过去农村社会群体的社会身份的发展和表达。以前关于这一主题的学术研究主要集中在帝国和社会身份在塑造城市主义、物质文化、经济和当地环境方面的作用。然而，过去人们对农村和城市遗址之间的关系知之甚少。更好地理解遥远的社会群体在动荡时期是如何协商和表达他们的身份的，不仅有助于理解历史地区的社会景观，也有助于理解在当今快速全球化的世界中社会群体身份的维护。一个人如何“阅读”或理解种族群体在占领新地区时的社会身份表达，比如在全球难民危机的背景下？加深对这一主题的理解，将为经济、政治、非政府组织等领域带来潜力。该研究的问题是，通过研究陶器在时间和地理上的发展、变化或连续性，是否有可能了解制作一种被忽视的装饰陶器的人的社会身份。人们能从他们精心装饰的陶器中看出社会信号吗？传递的信息是什么？受众是谁？考古学和与社会理论相结合的物质文化分析是理解制作陶器的人的重要进展，特别是在精心挖掘和记录的地层背景中大量不同的陶器收藏的框架中。该研究将对博物馆和考古收藏的手工彩陶进行研究，然后将其与已经分析过的类似陶器组合进行比较，这些陶器来自一个远离主要城市中心但位于重要贸易路线上的考古遗址。结合考古遗址、博物馆和收藏的数据，这项研究将产生一个数据集，突出本土手工陶器的重要性。研究人员将运用物质文化分析来批判性地处理这项工作将产生的大型数据集。项目将发展新的物质文化分析方法，同时运用社会网络和统计分析对群体进行比较分析，了解在造型和装饰上的异同如何揭示群体在地方和区域尺度上的表达和联系。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The goal of this doctoral dissertation project is to study the development and expression of social identity in past rural social groups during times of social, religious, and political uncertainty. Previous scholarship on this topic has focused on the role of empires and social identity in shaping urbanism, material culture, economy, and local environment. However, the relationship between rural and urban sites in the past is generally poorly understood. Better understanding of how remote social groups negotiated and expressed their identity during turbulent times can not only help understand the social landscape of historic areas but also understand social group identity maintenance in the present day rapidly globalizing world. How does one "read" or understand expressions of social identity among ethnic groups as they occupy new regions, such as in the context of global refugee crises? Increased understanding of this topic holds potential for economy, politics, NGOs, and much more.The research asks if it is possible learn about the social identity of those who produced an overlooked type of decorated pottery by studying the development, change, or continuity of the pottery over time and geography. Can one discern social signaling in their intentionally decorated pottery? What are the messages and who are the audiences? Archaeology and material cultural analysis tempered with social theory are important inroads towards understanding the people who made the pottery, especially in the framework a large and diverse collection of pottery from carefully excavated and recorded stratigraphic contexts. The research will be conducted on hand-formed painted pottery at museums and archaeological collections, which will then be compared to an already-analyzed assemblage of similar pottery from an archaeological site located in a region remote from major urban centers, yet on an important trade route. Combining data from archaeological sites, museums, and collections, this research will produce a dataset that will highlight the importance of vernacular hand-formed pottery. The researcher will apply material cultural analyses to critically address the large dataset this work will produce. The project will develop upon new material culture analytical methods while applying social network and statistical analysis to conduct comparative analyses groups in order to understand how similarities and differences in forming and decoration can reveal group expressions and affiliations at the local and regional scale.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.