Archaeology and ethnicity : constructing identities in the past and present

Jones, Siân (1994) Archaeology and ethnicity : constructing identities in the past and present. University of Southampton, Doctoral Thesis.

Abstract

This thesis develops an approach to the analysis of ethnicity in archaeology which can be applied to diverse social and historical contexts. Following a critical analysis of social theory concerning ethnicity an approach is developed which can explain the dynamic and situational nature of ethnic identification, and, critically, the relationship between people's perceptions of ethnicity and the cultural contexts and social relations in which they are embedded. Ethnicity is not directly congruent with peoples (sub)conscious habitual dispositions, nor with their cultural practices and historical experiences, and in many instances the manifestation of ethnicity reflects the instrumental contingencies of a particular situation. However, it is argued that the cultural styles which become objectified as symbols of ethnicity are derived from, and resonate with, the habitual practices and experiences of the agents involved. The objectification of such practices and experiences in the recognition and communication of ethnicity is a product of the intersection of the `habitus' with the social conditions prevailing in particular historical contexts. Thus, the cultural styles involved in the signification of the `same' identity may vary qualitatively as well as quantitatively. The resulting cultural patterning may be one of overlapping stylistic boundaries constituted by representations of ethnic difference which are at once transient configurations, but are also subject to reproduction and transformation in the ongoing processes of social life.

This approach to ethnicity has a number of important implications for the analysis of ethnicity in archaeology which are explored through a reconsideration of the processes involved in `Romanization'. It is shown that the above theory of ethnicity not only demands a reconsideration of existing interpretive principles, but also a different approach to the classification and dating of archaeological remains.

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