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THE ARCHAEOLOGY OF SERIOUS GAMES: PLAY AND PRAGMATISM IN VICTORIAN-ERA DINING

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 December 2018

Barbara L. Voss Open the ORCID record for Barbara L. Voss [Opens in a new window]
Barbara L. Voss*
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, Stanford University, 450 Serra Mall, Bldg. 50, Stanford, CA 94305-2034, USA
*
([email protected], corresponding author). http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3511-3641
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Abstract

This study expands on Ortner's practice-based theory of “serious games” by interpreting artifacts through a continuum of intention: pragmatism and play. Decisions and actions are defined as pragmatic according to their desired outcome, while play, in contrast, is an attitude or disposition toward the action itself. Both pragmatism and play are examined in this study of dining-related material culture (ceramic tablewares) from a nineteenth-century Chinatown. The research reveals that Chinatown residents varied considerably in their approach to dining, some using the full complement of British- and American-produced earthenwares associated with Victorian-era genteel dining, whereas others primarily used porcelain vessels congruent with dining conventions in southern China. Other households blended the two types of ceramics, typically using Chinese porcelain vessels for individual table settings and British- and American-produced earthenwares for serving vessels. Chinese porcelains were typically purchased in matched sets; in contrast, British and American earthenwares were acquired piece by piece, contributing aesthetic variety to Chinatown table settings. Together, these findings indicate that most Chinatown households were establishing their own “house rules” that redefined dining through new practices. The continuum of intention represented by pragmatism and play affords an integrated methodology for bridging functional/economic and cultural/symbolic interpretive frameworks in archaeology.

Esta investigación amplía la teoría basada en la práctica de los “juegos serios” de Ortner al interpretar artefactos a través de un contínuo de intención entre el pragmatismo y el juego. Las decisiones y acciones son definidas como pragmáticas de acuerdo al resultado deseado; el juego, en contraste, es una actitud o disposición hacia la acción en sí misma. Tanto el pragmatismo como el juego son examinados en este estudio sobre la cultura material asociada al consumo de comida (vajilla de cerámica) de un barrio chino del siglo diecinueve. El estudio revela que los residentes del barrio chino variaban considerablemente en sus aproximaciones al comer: mientras algunos usaban un conjunto compuesto por lozas británicas y estadounidenses asociadas con las comidas elegantes de la era victoriana, otros usaban recipientes de porcelana de acuerdo a la usanza del sur de China. Algunos hogares mezclaron los dos tipos de cerámica, generalmente utilizando vasijas de porcelana china para uso individual y vajilla de producción británica y estadounidense como recipientes para servir. La porcelana china era típicamente adquirida en conjuntos a juego; en contraste, las cerámica británica y estadounidense era adquirida en piezas individuales, aportando variedad estética a la configuración de las mesas del barrio chino. En conjunto, estos hallazgos indican que la mayoría de los hogares del barrio chino establecieron sus propias “reglas caseras”, redefiniendo el comer através de nuevas prácticas. El continuo de intención representado por el pragmatismo y el juego proporciona una metodología integrada para unir los marcos de la interpretación funcional-económica y cultural-simbólica en arqueología.

Type
Articles
Information
American Antiquity , Volume 84 , Issue 1 , January 2019 , pp. 26 - 47
Copyright
Copyright © 2018 by the Society for American Archaeology 

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