Whitney Goodwin, a PhD candidate, will investigate how groups actively negotiate their identities and affiliations to navigate the complex social and political landscapes of border areas. Border areas, both past and present, are locations of frequent and often contentious redefinitions of the traditions that underlie shared identities. Archaeological approaches to identity in border areas provide the long-term and multi-scalar perspective necessary for understanding the complex causes and consequences of these changes. What strategies were used to resist change and were they successful? How and why were traditions from neighboring groups sometimes borrowed or appropriated? This research is concerned with addressing these questions by examining multiple classes of materials and how these were combined in ways that reinforced or contested and eventually redefined traditional practices. Understanding variation in responses to border interactions and their long-term implications is significant given they occur more widely and frequently today than ever before in human history.
Prehispanic populations of northeastern Honduras were positioned at the border of Mesoamerica and Lower Central America. Despite shifting affiliations with groups to the north and south, the northeastern region remained a cohesive entity with minimal social inequality and internally shared styles and practices for over 1,200 years, beginning around A.D. 300. Previous research suggests this long term stability can be attributed to the active promotion of symbols of identity that purposefully blended local and exotic styles to express both internal cohesion and strategic external affiliations. The actual implementation of this strategy, however, remains unexplored. Rather than rely on stylistic analyses alone, the present study combines analyses of ceramic style with a concern for where and how ceramic vessels were used in practice. In many cases, vessels that portray symbols or designs expressing identity were combined with foods and practices that were equally as important in defining or contesting those identities. By looking at foodways - the resources and food-related practices particular to a group - in conjunction with ceramic style, the possibility for multiple or conflicting identities is recognized. If local groups were able to balance local tradition with shifting affiliations, how was this accomplished? Were ceramic styles and foodways signaling the same external affiliations or were there multiple or competing influences represented? Archaeological excavations of communal feasting events and the characterization of cooking residues in and stylistic elements on ceramic vessels in these settings will provide a long-term perspective on how both foods and styles were employed. Tracing how these significant elements of identity were combined over time, and the source of influences for both, will provide information for disentangling the processes by which identity was negotiated and highlight the varied ways in which groups embrace, appropriate, and resist change in response to interaction.
The project includes significant collaboration with descendent community leaders and government representatives to increase the representation of indigenous heritage in the regional museum, with the goal of encouraging tourists to visit local communities. Additionally, Honduran undergraduate anthropology students are partaking in fieldwork and community collaboration efforts, allowing them to fulfill their internship requirement for degree completion.
