BOOK REVIEW: GENDER STEREOTYPES IN ARCHAEOLOGY: A SHORT REFLECTION IN IMAGE AND TEXT (original) (raw)
This essay will attempt to discuss the archaeological framework questioning the function played by gender in past societies and its influence in shaping contemporary ideologies on sex differences and gender roles. Being gender a cultural construct, it may be misleading to assume it always had the same implications. Different cultures had indeed considerably different understandings of gender categories and followed therefore disparate patterns in terms of gender relation arrangements. However, past societies are no longer here cavorting the earth for us to analyse and have a face-to-face discourse about their diverse approaches to social differences and this is where archaeology comes into play. For instance, by looking at the archaeological data it is possible to notice that gender interplays were often clearly displayed by means of material culture such as individual costumes, iconography and art, or in circumstances that involved burial activities (Sørensen, 2000: 8). To this extent, archaeology is a precious resource in order to broaden our picture of sex and gender interpretation in that “material culture becomes partner in the structuring of social relations” (Sørensen, 2000: 9). Insofar as it can be ascertained, material culture mirrors the way in which a particular society was organized and sheds therefore a light upon its social relations. This ideological framework weas enacted by the members of society who passed it on the subsequent generations through objects and symbols, carriers of and imbued with cultural meaning. Hence, material culture “serves as a bridge” (Sørensen, 2000: 9), it underpins the present theoretical discourse surrounding the legitimization of a gendered critique of the past with empirical and tangible objects. Especially when studying past non-literate societies, the artefacts unearthed in proximity of female or male skeletons can recount the distinct tasks carried out by the former and the latter; nonetheless, sex and gender differences ought to be critically considered also in terms of health, nutrition, violence, and labour distinctions (Hays-Gilpin and Whitley, 1998: 4). It is of the utmost importance to systematically discern these factors, and once a judicious observation has been made, they must be recorded accordingly rather than just taken for granted in line with gendered stereotypes (Hays-Gilpin and Whitley, 1998: 5), for archaeology can offer a “historical perspective on the social construction and changing nature and forms of ʻdifferenceʼ” (Conkey, 1993: 12).