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- All Subjects: Ceramics
- All Subjects: Animal Physiology
- All Subjects: Sexual Signals
- Creators: Beiner, Susan
There is a wide intersection where animal and human lives interact or mimic each other behaviorally or biologically. A lot of the products that are part of our day-to-day were first validated by animals, and eventually found their way to us. From food to beauty products to scientific developments, animals deal with a lot behind the scenes. Some humans are cognizant of what is happening backstage, while others only see the final presentation. Either way, all of us have our opinions in support or against animal treatment. The project is heavily inspired from my experience in a neurorehabilitation lab, so the foundation is similar to the structure and function of neurons. Through this project, I am focusing on one aspect of this debate, which is animal testing in the scietific setting. The goal of the project is not to force the viewer to choose one side, but to understand the big picture and the reasoning of the opposing side.
For New Spain, historians have identified at least three macroscale shifts in the social structure of the viceroyalty. I examine the mechanisms that led to these changes in two distinct contexts. The Port of Veracruz (Mexico), located along the main axis of colonial exchange, offers a shifting baseline for comparison of the long-term trajectory of colonial interaction and categorical change. I undertake a finer grain study at the borderland presidios of Northwest Florida, where three presidios were sequentially occupied (AD 1698-1763) and historically linked to Veracruz through formal recruitment and governmental supply.
My analysis draws on two independent lines of evidence. Historically, I examine census records, maps, and other colonial documents. Archaeologically, I assess change in interaction mainly through technological style analysis, compositional characterization, and the distribution of low visibility plain and lead-glazed utilitarian wares. I document the active expression of social categories through changing consumption of highly visible serving vessels.
This study demonstrates that colonial transformations were driven locally from the bottom up and through the top-down responses of local and imperial elites who attempted to maintain control over labor and resources. Social changes in Florida and Veracruz were distinct based upon initial conditions and historical contingencies, yet simultaneously were influenced by and contributed to broad trajectories of macroscale colonial transformations.