The Archaeology of Inequality (Social Archaeology) Book

This volume of original papers by archaeologists and anthropologists is concerned with inequality in the history of North America. Using the evidence of the landscapes and material culture of the American past, it provides a series of perspective on racial, gender and economic inequalities both between and within the native American, Black and European peoples of the continent. The tensions of inequality are most easily seen in such violent manifestations as witch-hunts, revolutions, strikes and riots. The contributors to this book reveal how far domination and resistance to it are a central part of everyday experience. Inequality of one kind or another characterizes the lives of most individuals from morning to night and from birth to death. Its expression may be seen in the negotiations between superiors and inferiors in the home, shop, factory and field. Full of insights into the everyday reality of the American peoples of the past, this book also offers convincing evidence of the value of anthropological and archaeological investigations into historical times. This is a book which should be of wide interest to all those concerned to understand the nature and origins of injustice, oppression and inequality.Read More