Date of Award
2011
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Bachelors
Department
Social Sciences
First Advisor
Baram, Uzi
Keywords
Native American Studies, Gender Studies, Collaborative Methods
Area of Concentration
Anthropology
Abstract
This thesis examines the potential of queering and decolonizing archaeology with a focus on the Apalachee past. The first chapter examines the Mississippian-era Lake Jackson site, outlining queer and Indigenist critiques of Southeastern archaeology. Based on collaborative research with a Muskogee community, I further an interpretation of the so-called �Birdman� or �Birdwoman� of the SECC as a gender-neutral anthropomorphic moth. The second chapter discusses 17th century Mission San Luis, using engendered and historical archaeological methods. I suggest that jewelry found discarded in a trash pit reflects the identity politics of an Apalachee woman and her Spanish lover, situating this interpretation in a discussion of the conflicts over gender, sexuality, and kinship practices in multicultural San Luis. In the third chapter, I discuss my visits to the Museum of the Cherokee Indian, the Ah-Tah-Thi-Ki Museum, and the National Museum of the American Indian, drawing on self-reflective methods. I find that even in these spaces of Native heritage, hegemonic gender/sex paradigms are always encroaching. In breaking the gender binary and decolonizing history-making, this text explores alternative possibilities in the past as a means of emancipation in the present.
Recommended Citation
Bloch, Lee, "An Anthropology of Remembering Queer Theory, Collaborative Archaeology, & the Apalachea past" (2011). Theses & ETDs. 4373.
https://digitalcommons.ncf.edu/theses_etds/4373