Historical Archaeologies of Capitalism

by Mark P. Leone (Editor), Parker B. Potter Jr. (Editor)

Overview

American things, American material culture, and American archaeology are the themes of this book. The authors use goods used or made in America to illuminate issues such as tenancy, racism, sexism, and regional bias. Contributors utilize data about everyday objects - from tin cans and bottles to namebrand items, from fish bones to machinery - to analyze the way American capitalism works. Their cogent analyses take us literally from broken dishes to the international economy. Especially notable chapters examine how an archaeologist formulates questions about exploitation under capitalism, and how the study of artifacts reveals African-American middle class culture and its response to racism.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781461547679
Publisher:	Springer-Verlag New York, LLC
Publication date:	12/06/2012
Series:	Contributions To Global Historical Archaeology
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	1 MB

About the Author

Mark P. Leone is professor in the Department of Anthropology, University of Maryland, College Park. He joined the faculty in 1976 after being an assistant professor at Princeton University. He has directed Archaeology in Annapolis since 1981.He has written two books devoted to Annapolis and to issues illustrated by its archaeology. The first is The Archaeology of Liberty in an American Capital: Excavations in Annapolis, University of California Press, 2005. The second is Critical Historical Archaeology, Left Coast Press, 2010.

Leone’s major research in Annapolis involves the city’s baroque gardens and town plans, African American culture in Annapolis since 1700, and a commitment to archaeology for public understanding begun in 1983.Since 2000, he has guided Archaeology in Annapolis through excavations at William Paca’s 1792 plantation on Wye Island, on Maryland’s Eastern Shore and at Wye House, home of the Lloyd family and Frederick Douglass, also on the Eastern Shore.

Jocelyn E. Knauf completed her PhD in Anthropology at the University of Maryland, College Park in May of 2013. She received a B.A. in Anthropology and a B.A. in International Studies from American University and a Masters of Applied Anthropology from the University of Maryland. Her dissertation research, conducted through the Archaeology in Annapolis program, focused on the processes of social identification and differentiation surrounding gender, race and labor in late 19th and early 20th century Annapolis, Maryland. Her research traces these shifting social relationships through interpretation of material culture including ceramics, glass, and landscapes. Her research interests include historical archaeology, material culture studies, feminist theory, social identity and cultural heritage issues related to anthropological research.

Table of Contents

I. Issues In A Historical Archaeology Devoted To Studying Capitalism.- 1. Setting Some Terms for Historical Archaeologies of Capitalism.- II. Where The Questions Come From.- 2. Why Should Historical Archaeologists Study Capitalism? The Logic of Question and Answer and the Challenge of Systemic Analysis.- 3. Historical Archaeology and Identity in Modern America.- 4. The Contested Commons: Archaeologies of Race, Repression, and Resistance in New York City.- III. Integration Into Capitalism And Impoverishment.- 5. Ex Occidente Lux? An Archaeology of Later Capitalism in the Nineteenth-Century West.- 6. Archaeology and the Challenges of Capitalist Farm Tenancy in America.- 7. “A Bold and Gorgeous Front”: The Contradictions of African America and Consumer Culture.- 8. Ceramics from Annapolis, Maryland: A Measure of Time Routines and Work Discipline.- IV. Beyond North America.- 9. Historical, Archaeology, Capitalism.

Editorial Reviews

Archaeologists look at the material culture of capitalism to help understand how issues such as class, race, and gender in the past has led to the current conditions. Six of the nine studies focus on the US from such perspectives as identity in modern America; race, repression, and resistance in New York City; later capitalism in the 19th-century west; capitalist farm tenancy, African America and consumer culture; and measuring time routines and work discipline in the ceramics industry in Annapolis, Maryland. The other contributions discuss theoretical issues. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Booknews

The volume benefits from numerous chapters authored by researchers not based in North America, and the editors’ efforts to be inclusive to global archaeologies of capitalism are applauded. … the chapters in the second edition, much like the first, are well-formed narratives on capitalism, making this volume a significant contribution to the field. ” (Todd M. Ahlman, American Antiquity, Vol. 82 (1), 2017)

“This volume invites the reader to a critical understanding of capitalism and is thus a most useful reading for all those interested in the historical archaeology of modernity.” (Pedro Paulo A. Funari, Antiquity, Vol. 90 (351), June, 2016)

“Offers a stunning range of high-quality, cutting edge contributions to the archaeology and history of capitalist processes. … The book continues Leone's longstanding concern with the social effects of archaeology in the present, and how to best cultivate critical insights among various publics. … this book is a must-read for theoretically-informed historical archaeologists and it provides an impressive array of topics and settings that could illustrate much of the range of historical archaeological concerns in the classroom.” (Kurt A. Jordan, Historical Archaeology, Vol. 50 (4), 2015)

From the Publisher