`Gender Archaeology` - Analyse, using a case study of your choice, how gender identities and roles are constructed, with particular reference to material culture. You could choose as a case study a room, a clip from TV or film, a bands dress code, a barbi

Gender Archaeology

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Gender archaeology is a field of study that encompasses different approaches in the study of gender . It developed in the 1980s at the time feminist movement emerged in many societies including America and Britain questioning the male bias of the mainstream archaeology . Gender plays a significant role in constructing society and its values categorizing which are female or male roles , and creating meanings and identity . However , studying the concept of gender is difficult

as its meaning is influenced by many factors and relationships in the society Arguments are raised that gender , unlike the biological sex , does not exist and complicated to test through archaeology . One of the traditional approaches in studying gender is through material culture where tangible evidences are correlated with the presence of men and women such as artefacts and tools excavated , suggesting a representation of the two genders and their activities (Shaw and Jameson 2000 : 251

The productive use of material culture is one of the most significant contributions of archaeologists unlike other disciplines which ignore the potentials of material and its symbolic representations and meaning construction of gender (Bintliff 2004 :85 . Scholars should recognize the relevance of material culture as it is able to correlate the objects and its physical realities and consequences to gender , allowing varied ways of exploring an object or material . It provides resources for reference and medium for practice of gender . It aids the study of gender...