Katie Chiou--Field Statement Outline

The outline below represents a general idea of how my field statement will be structured, as I am still thinking through a lot of the ideas presented in the reading group and am revising my thoughts as more readings are presented:

FIELD STATEMENT OUTLINE

Overview

In my field statement on household archaeology, I plan to adopt a THEMATIC approach rather than historical one that focuses on broad changes in archaeological thought (e.g., Processual/Marxist/Post-Processual). By doing this, I am hoping my paper will shy away from being evolutionist and progressive in thinking about these various topics that have fallen in and out of vogue through time while recognizing the diversity of research being conducted today under past themes. In each section, I plan to examine the general theme, the body of work surrounding that theme, the methods generally involved/exemplary cases, and the successes/pitfalls of these works that we should build on. In terms of the methods presented, I plan on mentioning a diversity of methods while focusing particularly on how FOOD relates to all these topics (as that will be the subject of my dissertation). As mentioned above, this statement is a work in progress and new ideas will be incorporated as the semester moves forward.

Introduction to households

-What is a Household and why is it a useful unit of analysis?

-Definitions and Problems—I will look at the anthropological, demographic, and archaeological literature for insight into the term

Households as activity areas

-here I will be looking at the spatialization of domestic activity, an incredibly popular topic from the birth of household archaeology to today

-particularly food activities--where are they being processed (e.g., processing grain)? where are they being prepared/cooked?

Using households towards an archaeology of production and social inequality

-here I examine works using households to construct the nature of inequality between “commoners” and the oft-studied elite; archaeology of class and labor conflict, using households to understand the evolution of complex societies; the archaeology of power

Looking in households for the voiceless and ignored

-here I attempt to find works that take a household perspective and use it towards the study of women, children, ethnic minorities, sub-cultures, etc.

-interested in differences in food consumption across settlements and within households

The household unit as a metaphor for society

-here I look at the use of the structure of a household as an analogy for broader social patterns -Bourdieu, Deetz, etc.

-Food and structure at the household level (Mary Douglas, Levi-Strauss)

Households and daily life/identity

-here is seek works that surround painting a picture of the lived experience -particularly interested in "cuisine" at the household level (for this is where I believed much of a culture's "cuisine" is developed) -food and identity Concluding Remarks Here I will reiterate why we should study the past from the household perspective--what is its utility, future directions in research? I will also emphasize the diversity of theoretical approaches involved in tackling issues of interest to household archaeologists and the range of methodological approaches available.