“Little women”: Gender, performance, and gesture in Mycenaean female figurines

Steel, Louise (2020) “Little women”: Gender, performance, and gesture in Mycenaean female figurines. Jounral of Anthropological Archaeology, 58. pp. 1-15. ISSN 0278-4165

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Abstract

This paper examines Mycenaean female figurines, focusing on their gesture, posture, and dress as evidence for somatic messages of Mycenaean female personhood and identity and what this might tell us about women’s lives in Late Bronze Age Greece. The primary focus is on the corporeal messages encoded in the figurines, with reference to Butler’s understanding of gender performativity and Connerton’s notion of incorporated body knowledges, to better understand how the figurines were embedded in Mycenaean habitus. This includes an experiential study of the gestures and posture of the figurines, to explore ancient embodied experiences, and analysis of the painted and applied details of clothing of the three main female types. The aim of the paper is to explore becoming a Mycenaean woman through the medium of sculpted clay.

Item Type: Article
Uncontrolled Keywords: Figurines; gender; performativity; embodiment; identity; dress
Subjects: C Auxiliary Sciences of History > CB History of civilization
C Auxiliary Sciences of History > CC Archaeology
D History General and Old World > DE The Mediterranean Region. The Greco-Roman World
G Geography. Anthropology. Recreation > GN Anthropology
H Social Sciences > HQ The family. Marriage. Woman
Divisions: Institutes and Academies > Institute of Education and Humanities > Academic Discipline: Humanities and Social Sciences
Depositing User: Louise Steel
Date Deposited: 07 Feb 2020 12:58
Last Modified: 01 Jun 2022 01:02
URI: https://repository.uwtsd.ac.uk/id/eprint/1204

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