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Foodways in societies at every social scale are linked in complex ways to processes of social change. This dissertation explores the interrelationship between foodways and processes of rapid social transformation. Drawing on a wide range of archaeological and ethnographic data from the Cibola region, I examine the role of foodways in processes of population aggregation and community formation and address how changes in the scale and diversity of social life interacted with the scale and organization of food production and consumption practices. To address the interrelationships between foodways and social transformations, I employ a conceptual framework focused on two social dimensions of food: cuisine and commensality. This study comparatively examines cuisine and commensality through time by investigating a range of interrelated food activities including: food production, storage, preparation, cooking, consumption and discard.
While settlement patterns and other more obvious manifestations of aggregation have been studied frequently, by examining foodways during periods of aggregation and social reorganization this study provides new insights into the micro-scalar processes of social transformation, cuisine change, and economic intensification associated with increases in settlement size, density, and social diversity. I document how food production and preparation intensified in conjunction with increases in the size of settlements and the scale of communal commensal events. I argue that foodways were a critical aspect of the social work of establishing and maintaining large, dense communities in the 13th and 14th centuries. At the same time, widespread changes in commensal practices placed a larger burden on household surplus and labor and women were likely the most affected as maize flatbreads and other foods made with finely ground flour were adopted and became central to cuisine. As such, this study provides insights into how rapid social transformations in the late 13th and 14th centuries were experienced differently by individuals, particularly along gendered lines. Studies of foodways, and specifically the social dimensions of food, offer a promising and often underutilized source of information about past processes of population aggregation, social integration, and transformations in the political economies of small-scale societies the past.
While settlement patterns and other more obvious manifestations of aggregation have been studied frequently, by examining foodways during periods of aggregation and social reorganization this study provides new insights into the micro-scalar processes of social transformation, cuisine change, and economic intensification associated with increases in settlement size, density, and social diversity. I document how food production and preparation intensified in conjunction with increases in the size of settlements and the scale of communal commensal events. I argue that foodways were a critical aspect of the social work of establishing and maintaining large, dense communities in the 13th and 14th centuries. At the same time, widespread changes in commensal practices placed a larger burden on household surplus and labor and women were likely the most affected as maize flatbreads and other foods made with finely ground flour were adopted and became central to cuisine. As such, this study provides insights into how rapid social transformations in the late 13th and 14th centuries were experienced differently by individuals, particularly along gendered lines. Studies of foodways, and specifically the social dimensions of food, offer a promising and often underutilized source of information about past processes of population aggregation, social integration, and transformations in the political economies of small-scale societies the past.
ContributorsOas, Sarah E (Author) / Hegmon, Michelle (Thesis advisor) / Kintigh, Keith W. (Thesis advisor) / Morehart, Christopher T. (Committee member) / Peeples, Matthew A. (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2019
Description
I propose a new approach for the analysis of social transformations within the context of colonialism. Drawing on concepts used by historical sociologists, combined with insights from historians and archaeologists, I forge a synthesis of relational mechanisms that concatenated into processes of categorical change. Within the social sciences, mechanisms are formally defined as specific classes of events or social interactions that are causally linked and tend to repeat under specific conditions, potentially resulting in widespread social transformations. Examples of mechanisms include formal inscription through spatial segregation and adjustments in individual position through socioeconomic mobility.
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.
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.
ContributorsEschbach, Krista (Author) / Stark, Barbara L. (Thesis advisor) / Smith, Michael E. (Thesis advisor) / Alexander, Rani T (Committee member) / Worth, John E. (Committee member) / Bearat, Hamdallah (Committee member) / Peeples, Matthew A. (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2019