O estudo aqui proposto visa sistematizar os dados arqueológicos e etnográficos sobre sociedades de caçadores-coletores da região Amazônica, bem como os dados paleoambientais dessa mesma região, para testar e refinar modelos sobre a colonização da floresta amazônica por sociedades baseadas em uma economia de forrageiro. Este trabalho também pretende contribuir com novos dados arqueológicos fundamentados em estudos recentes na região de Carajás no estado do Pará. Atenção especial é dada ao material lítico, uma vez que essa é a evidência arqueológica mais duradoura e, portanto, a mais abundante relacionada às sociedades de caçadores-coletores da Amazônia. A viabilidade de uma ocupação humana em áreas de floresta tropical baseada em uma economia de forrageiro tem sido questionada segundo uma perspectiva de fatores limitantes, como ausência de proteína (Lathrap, 1968) ou carboidratos (Bailey, 1989). Estudos etnográficos e ecológicos na região Amazônica têm demonstrado que as generalizações feitas no passado e a limitação ambiental da floresta não procedem. Apesar disso, e do fato de termos presenciado nos últimos anos um crescente número de pesquisas na região voltadas especificamente para a questão da colonização Neotrópical por sociedades de caçadores-coletores, com geração de datações que indicam uma ocupação bem antiga, durante o Pleistoceno final e Holoceno inicial, ainda temos que gerar dados empíricos confiáveis. Além disso, devemos refinar esses modelos para que novos estudos, tanto do ponto de vista teórico, como do ponto de vista empírico, sejam aceitos pelo crivo acadêmico. / The present study is a systematization of archaeological and ethnographic data on Amazonian hunter-gatherers societies, as well as a survey of paleoenvironmental studies from the same region with the aim to test and refine models that explain the colonization of Amazon forest by societies based on foraging economy. This work also contributes to new archaeological data based on recent research in Carajás region, Pará state. Especial attention is given to lithic material, which is the most durable archaeological evidence, therefore, the most abundant cultural remain associated with Amazonian hunter-gatherer societies. The viability of human occupation in tropical forest regions based on a foraging economy has been challenged from an environmental limiting-factor perspective such as low accessibility of protein (Lathrap, 1968) or carbohydrate (Bailey, 1989) for human foragers. Ethnographic and ecological studies in the Amazon region have demonstrated that past generalizations and environmental limitations of tropical forest don't proceed. Despite that, and the fact that in the past few years we have witnessed a growing number of research in the area focused on the question of hunter-gatherers colonization of the neotropics, with the generation of a chronology that indicates the antiquity of human occupation, dating back to the terminal Pleistocene, and early Holocene, we still have to generate more robust empirical data. Furthermore, we need to refine our models, theoretically and empirically, so that the new studies are accepted by the scientific community.

Submitted by Kenia Bernini (kenia.bernini@ufpel.edu.br) on 2017-03-14T17:39:18Z No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 0 bytes, checksum: d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e (MD5) Carolina_Hoffmann_Fernandes_Braga_Dissertação.pdf: 10058143 bytes, checksum: a492404becd7112a36da899865c3f2d9 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Aline Batista (alinehb.ufpel@gmail.com) on 2017-03-17T21:58:32Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 2 Carolina_Hoffmann_Fernandes_Braga_Dissertação.pdf: 10058143 bytes, checksum: a492404becd7112a36da899865c3f2d9 (MD5) license_rdf: 0 bytes, checksum: d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Aline Batista (alinehb.ufpel@gmail.com) on 2017-03-17T22:03:15Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 2 Carolina_Hoffmann_Fernandes_Braga_Dissertação.pdf: 10058143 bytes, checksum: a492404becd7112a36da899865c3f2d9 (MD5) license_rdf: 0 bytes, checksum: d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-03-17T22:03:26Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 Carolina_Hoffmann_Fernandes_Braga_Dissertação.pdf: 10058143 bytes, checksum: a492404becd7112a36da899865c3f2d9 (MD5) license_rdf: 0 bytes, checksum: d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-08-18 / Sem bolsa / Na perspectiva da antropologia dos objetos mas, principalmente guiada pela teoria de Tim Ingold, este projeto busca desenvolver uma pesquisa sobre os fluxos, “desvios” e reutilizações de resíduos sólidos da indústria naval da cidade de Rio Grande/RS, material frequentemente refugado e que, embora imperceptível aos olhos da maioria da população, aponta para novas relações entre a cultura material e o ser humano. A pesquisa procura desnaturalizar e iluminar um assunto insuficientemente explorado em diversas áreas do conhecimento: os dejetos, ou “lixo”, entendidos como herança de nossa sociedade de consumo para as próximas gerações. Diante da indissociabilidade entre seres humanos e coisas, o estudo leva em conta o dinamismo desta relação, considerando que ambos constroem-se mutuamente. A análise da cultura material será proposta a partir de uma abordagem antropológica, considerando-se ainda suas vertentes imagética e do consumo, através das quais pretendo provocar reflexões críticas sobre nossas práticas e visões de mundo mas, principalmente, buscando uma análise mais próxima das coisas. Acompanhar os resíduos de madeira até uma olaria, e além, deram à pesquisa a pista para descobrir como as pessoas e as coisas interagem, além de mostrar como suas vidas se cruzam e se modificam mutuamente / From the perspective of the anthropology of objects, but, mainly, guided by Tim Ingold’s theory, this project seeks to develop a survey of the flows, "deviations" and reuse of solid waste in the shipping industry of the city of Rio Grande / RS. These disregarded materials are often invisible to most people's eyes. This research points to new relationships between the material and human culture. The research seeks to deconstruct and illuminate a topic insufficiently explored in various areas of knowledge: the waste, or "junk," understood as a legacy of our consumer society for future generations. Given the inseparability between humans and things, the study takes into account the dynamics of this relationship, considering that they create each other. The material culture analysis is using an anthropological approach, considering also their imagery and consumption aspects, through which I intend to provoke critical reflection on our practices and worldviews, but mainly looking for a closer analysis of things from Tim Ingold. Following the wood waste from the shipping industry to a brickyard and onwards, allowed this research to track and discover how people and things interact, and to show how their lives intersect and change each other

[pt] Até hoje a maioria das construções empregam técnicas materiais e processos inadequados, resultando em enorme perda de energia e pouco ganho na relação custo/benefício. A grande maioria das pessoas envolvidas com problemas de construção não se conscientizou ainda do fato que construímos de maneira errada, consumindo materiais e energia em excesso em relação aos resultados obtidos. Ao longo de toda a história da construção conhecida, o homem se serviu da força da Gravidade para conseguir a estabilidade das suas estruturas. Nas grandes obras antigas e atuais os materiais empregados: pedra, tijolo, ferro, cimento são de pouca eficácia construtiva quando consideramos a relação resistência/peso. Tomando por base as teorias e experiências com a técnica tensegrity de se montar estruturas, desenvolvidas por Keneth Snelson e Richard Buckminster Fuller, e partindo dos estudos com estruturas empregando bambu como elemento comprimido que vêm sendo desenvolvidos à 20 anos pelo LILD/PUC- Laboratório de Investigação de Living Design (antigo LOTDP), além de aplicar os princípios físicos da Tensegrity como técnica de construção, propõe-se aqui o desenvovimento de objetos físicos inéditos para utilização em áreas remotas ou de Proteção Ambiental. Estas estruturas são feitas em material natural reciclável e biodegradável, de fácil manejo, e utilizam tecnologia de baixa complexidade para a sua montagem. Elas são pouco invasivas porque, sendo auto-portantes, dispensam fundações pesadas para existir e resistir. / [en] Till our days most of the constructions of buildings make use of very inadequate and obsolete materials resulting in a huge waste of energy and little gain in the relation cost/benfit. However, many people involved with construction problems, did not realize the fact that we build the wrong way consuming materials and energy in excess in relation to the desired goals. Along the known history of construction men served themselves only of the force of Gravity to obtain the stability of their structures. In all great, ancient and actual constructions, the materials employied, such as: stone, brick, iron, concrete, are of low building efficiency if we consider the relation strength/weight. Taking into account the theories and experiences with tensegrity techniques developed by Keneth Snelson and Richard Buckminster Fuller, and, starting from the studies with bambu structures, where bambu is the only compressed element, which is in course for 20 years now in the LILD- PUC-Rio (Laboratory of Living Design (former LOTDP), and applying the physical principles of Tensegrity as a building technique, our goal here is to develop real objects to be used in remote areas or National Parks. These structures, because of the reciclable materials of which they are made, are very easy to manipulate and need very low technology for the constructions made with them. Finally these structures are harmless to the environment because they are self suporting exempting the need of heavy foundations to exist and resist.

The Canadian firm of Jacques & Hay was in business for fifty years, during which the company, if The Globe (Toronto) is to be believed, furnished the Province of Canada. This was a stunning and largely undocumented success. Jacques & Hay was one of the largest employers in the province and dominated the cabinet-making trade from 1835 to 1885. In 1871, Jacques & Hay employed 430 men and 50 women in a vertically-integrated operation that included a sawmill, two factories and a showroom. Jacques & Hay produced abundant furniture at reasonable prices. The availability of such household furnishings greatly enhanced domestic life in nineteenth-century Canada, providing scope for a more elaborate social life and allowing more people to achieve a greater sense of comfort and decency in their living arrangements.

Discussions of hope and the imagined future have thus far focussed on grand ambitions at the expense of the more mundane, modest wants that are the preoccupation of everyday life. Studies of the home have demonstrated the role of material culture in embodying memory and household pasts but little has been said of household futures and their impact on household presents. This ethnographic study of the lives of three middle class households in south-east London addresses these gaps through an exploration of the role of imagined futures in orienting everyday life in the household. The ways in which householders work to make household life what they want it to be, and to secure the longer-term futures they imagine for their children, are explored through the frustrations, disappointments and anxieties that stem from the frequent failures of these efforts. Objects are demonstrated to be both the means through which householders attempt to make household life what they want it to be - their potentiality shaping and enabling imagined futures - and the means through which these imagined futures are reconfigured or derailed. The period of maternity leave, that all three of my women participants were in the midst of, is shown to be one in which the work of bringing the household's imagined futures, and children's imagined futures to fruition falls disproportionately to mothers, often at the expense of their own wants. Finally, a broader lens is used to explore how middle class householders' efforts to live the life they want contributes to and shapes the processes of gentrification credited with bringing dramatic change to south-east London.

This thesis explores the prestige associated in late medieval Scotland with Flemish luxury products, using a material culture-based approach founded on the premise that objects can reveal the beliefs and attitudes of those who used them. Adding to existing scholarship which concentrates on the economic, political, and diplomatic connections between Scotland and Flanders, this research offers a new artefactual dimension to this relationship. It challenges the perception of Scotland as culturally and materially unsophisticated while simultaneously considering how objects were used in the expression of elite power and status. What drives this work is that late medieval Scottish elites were fully immersed in the most highly regarded and fashionable material trends of western Europe and that their consumption patterns fit into a wider mentality which saw Flemish craftsmanship as an ideal. A new model is thus presented, moving away from the traditional concentration on fluctuating wool exports and taking into account the cultural agency of noble, ecclesiastic, and burghal elites. It entails the initial examination of Scottish consumer demand and its impact on the Flemish luxury market. Following this are chapters on gift exchange and the presentation of magnificence, centred around the perception of the Flemish aesthetic as representative of elite status. Finally, this approach is applied to the burghal and clerical spheres, arguing that Flemish church furniture played a role in the formation and maintenance of elite urban identities. The comprehensive examination of artefactual sources, combined with the commercial, ritual, and ceremonial evidence found in written sources, enables the building up of a clearer impression of Scoto-Flemish material culture than has previously been realised. It is demonstrated that the material environment of late medieval Scottish elites was comparable to those of other European polities, constituting a common cultural sphere furnished by the luxury products of Flanders and the southern Low Countries.

The late-Victorian and Edwardian period marked the zenith of urban park construction, spurred on in part by concerns about the physical and moral health of those living in the city. For the middle-class reformers at the time, public parks offered a space through which the unique and complex social issues of the era could be addressed and resolved. The public park was unique in that it made children visible on an unprecedented scale. Their role was fixed at the very heart of discourses on health; of the body, the mind, the nation, and the empire. This research explores these discussions of identity, and how that was negotiated by children in the very specific landscape of the public park. Previous work on the concept of childhood during this period has focused on an adult interpretation of the figure of the child, steeped in nostalgia and imbued with an adult fear and hope for the future. I argue that this ignores the lived experience of the child, and denies them agency in creating their own identity. This thesis uses a methodology inspired by current research in the emerging interdisciplinary field of childhood studies and drawing on the insights of material cultures studies to address this. The park space offers a unique opportunity to study lived experiences of childhood, designed as it was for use by the general public, with children firmly in mind. This work addresses the gaps in our knowledge and understanding of public urban parks in relation to children and explores the idea of a late-Victorian and Edwardian childhood identity as a complex and nuanced phenomenon. Throughout my thesis I use three parks as my primary case studies. These are Saltwell Park in Gateshead, Whitworth Park in Manchester, and Greenhead Park in Huddersfield. All three parks are situated in towns in the north of England that experienced dramatic change as a result of the industrial revolution and so reflect the anxieties present nationwide as a result of this change. By way of contrast I also consider parks in London and elsewhere to understand the uniqueness of these parks but also how they were situated within broader national debates over children and childhood. My investigation is broken down into three major thematic areas, each of which seeking to explore and analyse a particular aspect of childhood identity. The first of the three themes is the ‘Natural Child’. I explore the notion that children were thought of having a greater connection with, or affinity for, the natural world, and that they benefitted in particular from access to nature. The second area of research is the ‘Playful Child’. Here the idea that children were inherently playful, frivolous and could be shaped through correct play will be discussed. Finally, I investigate the ‘Empire Child’, exploring the notion of the child as the future of the Empire and the Nation, and the embodiment of concerns over racial superiority, military conquest and economic power. Within each of these sections I examine the way that this idea is expressed in the prescriptive and other literature, before addressing the way in which these notions could be articulated in the park landscape. The material culture of the park and the way in which the parks encouraged or discouraged children’s behaviour is analysed in relation to each of these themes. Significantly I also show how children engaged with, or rejected, notions of childhood identity, acknowledging that children were not just passively receiving instruction, but were actively involved in negotiating their own identity.

Museums can be productive sites for the study of society, because they are spaces where the constitution of knowledge about the past is made visible through public display. Playing an important role in the performance and legitimisation of national culture, museums in Scotland pay particular attention to the education of children. It is often claimed that children can gain an understanding of their history through physical engagement with museum collections. Both the ‘past’ and the ‘future’ are thus constituted within the museum. Through an exploration of children’s education at the National Museum of Scotland and The Lewis Chessmen: Unmasked touring exhibition, I argue that efforts by museums to exert control over ongoing processes through which subjects and objects, past and future, nations and heritage are constituted can be deeply challenged by children and museum objects, both of whose status remain inherently dynamic and unstable. Despite the museum’s claims to have “real things [objects] revealing stories”, objects rarely reveal narratives beyond those exerted upon them. They are, instead, materially and relationally constituted in particular places, at particular times. The same ‘instability’ applies to children visiting the museum. Children engage with the material stuff of the museum in surprising and unpredictable ways. This dynamic, multisensory interaction enables children to pursue personal projects, which do not necessarily adhere to the agendas of the museum. Yet, children often do go along with the museum’s narratives, commonly accepting what they are told by adults about the objects they are handling. They are also deeply concerned with the authenticity of these objects. Whether an objects is ‘real’ or not, however, is not necessarily judged by the same standards shared with the museum. Children’s awareness of a ‘real’ object’s metonymical presence not only enables an experiential encounter with the past, but also enables them to work out their own positions within the power structures of the museum; testing their own concerns relating to trust, truth, value and the process of becoming adults.

A combination of archaeology, written historical evidence, oral history and ethnography was used to investigate contact between Swazi communities in the eastern Mpumalanga lowveld and the colonial frontier during19th century colonial expansion into the area. Archaeological data was collected from two Swazi residential sites, Mekemeke and eKusoleni. Oral traditions indicate that these sites were occupied from the mid 1860’s to the mid 1930’s. Data from these sites were compared in an effort to explore the changes in contact between the Swazi and Westerners intensified over time. The incorporation of new types of material culture was selective and guided by internal dynamics. / Dissertation (MA)--University of Pretoria, 2010. / Anthropology and Archaeology / unrestricted

This thesis examines the documentation process of a collection of contemporary objects made by a Northern Tutchone artist, Mrs. Gertie Tom, from Whitehorse, Yukon Territory. The beaded moosehide objects were purchased by the University of British Columbia Museum of Anthropology between 1992 and 1994, and include a vest, a 'shell' belt, gloves, moccasins, mittens, and a hat. The documentation process included Mrs. Tom documenting her objects in her own words. This thesis investigates the steps, cost, and time involved in documenting the six objects. It also explores how object documentation fits within museological debates on access, collections management, and current museology. Museums are facing an increasingly changing environment. Originating people are requesting changes in the relationship between museums and objects. The cost of caring for museum collections is increasing and many objects within these collections are inadequately documented and consequently of little value for research. At the same time, museums continue to collect. In addition, many scholars think the future of museums is in current and controversial ideas rather than objects. The single, often paternalistic, museum message is being challenged, and people are arguing for museums to exhibit a variety of voices and opinions. This thesis answers the questions: What does this project contribute to issues of collections access, especially with reference to First Nations material? What costs are involved in documenting museum collections? Does documentation improve information available on collections? Does it allow people, not just objects, to become an integral part of museums and to bring new ideas and issues to museums? Although the documentation process required a commitment of time and money, my research confirms that having people document their own objects is beneficial in reference to current museological issues. The information provided by Mrs. Tom not only documents her objects but offers insight into other aspects of her life and Northern Tutchone culture in general. The documentation, in addition to providing answers to questions such as provenience, use, and materials, reveals ideas and interpretations of the objects from Mrs. Tom's point of view. Having Mrs. Tom document her objects in her own words means she, rather than the museum, is the authoritative voice. In an effort to bring a balance between objects and ideas, museums should only acquire objects they can afford to document. / Arts, Faculty of / Anthropology, Department of / Graduate