Recent scholarship on toponyms favors the study of street names, but these theories can also be a... more Recent scholarship on toponyms favors the study of street names, but these theories can also be applied to the naming of neighborhoods within a city. The Mission Hills and Logan Heights neighborhoods of San Diego effectively illustrate the changing nature of symbolic capital and symbolic violence in the linguistic study of toponyms through time. The genesis of these neighborhoods shows the use of symbolic capital in the naming of communities, as well as the use of symbolic violence in the claiming of space. Both of these situations highlight the recent “critical turn” in the linguistic subfield of toponyms.
In the first two decades of the twentieth century, large numbers of white, middle-class Midwester... more In the first two decades of the twentieth century, large numbers of white, middle-class Midwesterners migrated to Southern California. Drawn by boosterism, these families transformed California from the periphery to the core. This Midwestern Migration occurred at a time of massive social change in the United States. That the characteristics of this social change are interwoven with the attributes of the migration is significant and not accidental. Changes in class relations and consumption play themselves out against this backdrop. The experience of the Provost family in Sioux City and San Diego during this period allows us to see these large-scale social transformations taking place at local, regional, and national levels.
Post-Processual Archaeology is a term weighted with meaning. To some, it is a dig against a valu... more Post-Processual Archaeology is a term weighted with meaning. To some, it is a dig against a valuable and necessary science-based movement in archaeology. To others, it means nothing - it's vague, defining more of what it isn't than what it is. It's been around for three decades, and a new, young crop of archaeologists have spent their academic careers either studying under the founders of the Post-Processual movement, or at least greatly influenced by them and their ideas.
What does this mean for Post-Processual Archaeology as a movement, then? Has Post-Processualism coalesced into a core set of ideas, or is it still just a grab-bag for any theoretical concepts that have come forward since the New Archaeology took root in the late 1960s? Today's new breed of archaeologists are implementing Post-Processual Archaeology in the field, taking it out of an academic setting and forcing it to the trowel's edge. Is this effective? What conflicts are arising? And what does the future hold for Post-Processual Archaeology?
Over the past couple of decades, new theories have begun to emerge to attempt to explain the cogn... more Over the past couple of decades, new theories have begun to emerge to attempt to explain the cognitive development of modern humans. For hundreds of thousands -even millions- of years, we can follow the slow biological and behavioral evolution of our ancestor species. Biological evolution can be traced through skeletal remains, but behavioral changes present a challenge: they can only be inferred. In attempting to explain differences in material remains between primitive man and modern man, some theorists claim that suddenly, approximately 40-50 thousand years ago, there was a great leap forward in cognitive ability of homo sapiens. This great leap, this "quantum jump in human ability to manipulate the natural environment" (Hoffecker 1), is what allowed man to behave in complex new ways, that primitive man simply could not. But there is much evidence that this cognitive revolution was more of a cognitive evolution, spread out over tens of thousands of years as man tinkered and toyed with new ideas, and that the differences in material remains, the gaps that this theory tries to explain, are only present in certain areas. Certainly not in Africa, birthplace of mankind.
The Mexican Revolution was not a sedate, well-behaved dinner party. It was a wild drunken fiesta... more The Mexican Revolution was not a sedate, well-behaved dinner party. It was a wild drunken fiesta, with fireworks, all-night dancing, and gun duels, and somewhere among all that living there just happened to be a Revolution going on. In a revolution, it is assumed that the people are fighting for Liberty, for Change, for big important ideas, but is this really why they take up arms? In Insurgent Mexico, John Reed reports on what he witnessed while accompanying the Constitutionalist rebels in 1913 and 1914. According to Reed, the real reasons for joining the Revolution were related to adventure and employment. These twin drives do much to explain the length of the Revolution, and the frequency of later uprisings. Examples of Reed's point of view can best be seen in the interviews he reports that are related to the desire for excitement among the soldiers, the attitude of some that soldiering is better than working, and for others that soldiering is the best available work.
Presentation to show state of research into the water conveyance systems at the Rancho Peñasquito... more Presentation to show state of research into the water conveyance systems at the Rancho Peñasquitos adobe in San Diego County, California. Over the last 25 years the adobe and surrounding area have been the site of archaeological field schools for San Diego City College and San Diego State University. Questions remain about precisely when the various components of the system were constructed.
Recent scholarship on toponyms favors the study of street names, but these theories can also be a... more Recent scholarship on toponyms favors the study of street names, but these theories can also be applied to the naming of neighborhoods within a city. The Mission Hills and Logan Heights neighborhoods of San Diego effectively illustrate the changing nature of symbolic capital and symbolic violence in the linguistic study of toponyms through time. The genesis of these neighborhoods shows the use of symbolic capital in the naming of communities, as well as the use of symbolic violence in the claiming of space. Both of these situations highlight the recent “critical turn” in the linguistic subfield of toponyms.
In the first two decades of the twentieth century, large numbers of white, middle-class Midwester... more In the first two decades of the twentieth century, large numbers of white, middle-class Midwesterners migrated to Southern California. Drawn by boosterism, these families transformed California from the periphery to the core. This Midwestern Migration occurred at a time of massive social change in the United States. That the characteristics of this social change are interwoven with the attributes of the migration is significant and not accidental. Changes in class relations and consumption play themselves out against this backdrop. The experience of the Provost family in Sioux City and San Diego during this period allows us to see these large-scale social transformations taking place at local, regional, and national levels.
Post-Processual Archaeology is a term weighted with meaning. To some, it is a dig against a valu... more Post-Processual Archaeology is a term weighted with meaning. To some, it is a dig against a valuable and necessary science-based movement in archaeology. To others, it means nothing - it's vague, defining more of what it isn't than what it is. It's been around for three decades, and a new, young crop of archaeologists have spent their academic careers either studying under the founders of the Post-Processual movement, or at least greatly influenced by them and their ideas.
What does this mean for Post-Processual Archaeology as a movement, then? Has Post-Processualism coalesced into a core set of ideas, or is it still just a grab-bag for any theoretical concepts that have come forward since the New Archaeology took root in the late 1960s? Today's new breed of archaeologists are implementing Post-Processual Archaeology in the field, taking it out of an academic setting and forcing it to the trowel's edge. Is this effective? What conflicts are arising? And what does the future hold for Post-Processual Archaeology?
Over the past couple of decades, new theories have begun to emerge to attempt to explain the cogn... more Over the past couple of decades, new theories have begun to emerge to attempt to explain the cognitive development of modern humans. For hundreds of thousands -even millions- of years, we can follow the slow biological and behavioral evolution of our ancestor species. Biological evolution can be traced through skeletal remains, but behavioral changes present a challenge: they can only be inferred. In attempting to explain differences in material remains between primitive man and modern man, some theorists claim that suddenly, approximately 40-50 thousand years ago, there was a great leap forward in cognitive ability of homo sapiens. This great leap, this "quantum jump in human ability to manipulate the natural environment" (Hoffecker 1), is what allowed man to behave in complex new ways, that primitive man simply could not. But there is much evidence that this cognitive revolution was more of a cognitive evolution, spread out over tens of thousands of years as man tinkered and toyed with new ideas, and that the differences in material remains, the gaps that this theory tries to explain, are only present in certain areas. Certainly not in Africa, birthplace of mankind.
The Mexican Revolution was not a sedate, well-behaved dinner party. It was a wild drunken fiesta... more The Mexican Revolution was not a sedate, well-behaved dinner party. It was a wild drunken fiesta, with fireworks, all-night dancing, and gun duels, and somewhere among all that living there just happened to be a Revolution going on. In a revolution, it is assumed that the people are fighting for Liberty, for Change, for big important ideas, but is this really why they take up arms? In Insurgent Mexico, John Reed reports on what he witnessed while accompanying the Constitutionalist rebels in 1913 and 1914. According to Reed, the real reasons for joining the Revolution were related to adventure and employment. These twin drives do much to explain the length of the Revolution, and the frequency of later uprisings. Examples of Reed's point of view can best be seen in the interviews he reports that are related to the desire for excitement among the soldiers, the attitude of some that soldiering is better than working, and for others that soldiering is the best available work.
Presentation to show state of research into the water conveyance systems at the Rancho Peñasquito... more Presentation to show state of research into the water conveyance systems at the Rancho Peñasquitos adobe in San Diego County, California. Over the last 25 years the adobe and surrounding area have been the site of archaeological field schools for San Diego City College and San Diego State University. Questions remain about precisely when the various components of the system were constructed.
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Papers by Doug Mengers
What does this mean for Post-Processual Archaeology as a movement, then? Has Post-Processualism coalesced into a core set of ideas, or is it still just a grab-bag for any theoretical concepts that have come forward since the New Archaeology took root in the late 1960s? Today's new breed of archaeologists are implementing Post-Processual Archaeology in the field, taking it out of an academic setting and forcing it to the trowel's edge. Is this effective? What conflicts are arising? And what does the future hold for Post-Processual Archaeology?
Conference Presentations by Doug Mengers
What does this mean for Post-Processual Archaeology as a movement, then? Has Post-Processualism coalesced into a core set of ideas, or is it still just a grab-bag for any theoretical concepts that have come forward since the New Archaeology took root in the late 1960s? Today's new breed of archaeologists are implementing Post-Processual Archaeology in the field, taking it out of an academic setting and forcing it to the trowel's edge. Is this effective? What conflicts are arising? And what does the future hold for Post-Processual Archaeology?