Mesoamerican Figurines: Small-Scale Indices of Large-Scale Social Phenomena

5. Identity, Gender, and Power: Representational Juxtapositions in Early Formative Figurines from Oaxaca, Mexico

5 Identity, Gender, and Power Representational Juxtapositions in Early Formative Figurines from Oaxaca, Mexico Jeffrey P. Blomster Clay figurines constitute one of the few artifact categories that provide insights into how Early Formative (1500–900/850 bce) villagers viewed the human body, themselves, and social identities; they illustrate a kind of self-awareness that is very physical and more visual than on other ceramic objects. Figurines not only represent important decisions about body form and its miniaturization but also were objects through which humans reflexively created their understandings of embodiment (Joyce 2006). As Douglass Bailey (1996: 294) notes, they serve as narrative by making relationships understood; figurines are potent ways of expressing relationships between individuals, by “claiming and legitimating one’s own identity or for suggesting and realigning the identity of others.” For archaeologists interested in the emergence of social complexity, figurines are particularly of interest because they first appeared in quantity during a time of change in Mesoamerica, as early villages and associated new social roles and identities in everyday life were established and transformed . While figurines may show actual individuals, on at least one level they show idealized or abstracted social categories or identities. The makers and users of figurines expressed ideas about both the human form and identity and how these aspects of individuals related to those of others. Figurines may have materialized attempts to express and negotiate the connection between the self and the relationships of the social world. As some archaeologists have noted, figurines show relations between nascent social divisions and the exercise of power (Lesure 1997). Beginning with the first emerging chiefdoms of the Mokaya in Soconusco, various opportunities arose for the negotiation of status and identity. Figurines may have shown and naturalized these new social relations, but they may also represent ef- Jeffrey P. Blomster 120 forts to understand, challenge, and question these relationships. In some cases, figurines may express resistance to new statuses (Joyce 1993). In terms of interpretation, it would be a mistake to ascribe only one role or function to figurines. While there is much debate over the role—or, more realistically, the roles—figurines played in society, they first occurred before the appearance of sociopolitical structures and state-sanctioned religions that came to typify Mesoamerican societies. Figurines signify activities that occurred initially at a nonpublic and household level; such related behaviors and rituals were gradually accepted among groups of households or larger corporate entities. Initially they reflect the individual’s exploration of relationships with close associates, both living and dead, as well as his or her role in larger social phenomenon, while through time figurines become more standardized in their imagery (and at least in some parts of Oaxaca, occur less frequently archaeologically). An Early Formative figurine assemblage (still under analysis), which may materialize societal transformations and negotiations, derives from excavations at Etlatongo, in the Nochixtlán Valley of the Mixteca Alta. Figurines and Gender While figurines are compelling at least in part because aspects of biological sex are often indicated, the connections between sexual characteristics and social identity and gender roles are complex. Running through the vast majority of figurine analyses is a problematic assumption: biological sexual characteristics—whether primary or secondary—on figurines can be used to infer gender. Such a direct link between sex and gender has been shown to be problematic in living and ancient societies throughout the world (see Gero and Conkey 1991). The binary division between only two genders also limits possibilities; for example, third genders—and more—among numerous Native American groups in North America have been well documented (Holliman 1997). Ethnographic data also caution against static gender categories tied with universal ideas about biological sex. Among the Hua of New Guinea, gender is a lifelong process; all children are born at least partially female and polluted (Gailey 1987). Similar concepts appear within Mesoamerican societies. While Nahuatl age terminology divided preadolescents into several types, specific gender forms were absent until adolescence (López Austin 1988: 1: 285–90). As informed by a praxis perspective (Bourdieu 1977; Giddens 1984), gender is discursively constructed and is context dependent. Gender differences are both constructed and Representational Juxtapositions in Early Formative Figurines, Oaxaca, Mexico 121 maintained through discourse pertaining to agency and identity (Knapp 1998). In many societies, biological sex may be strongly correlated with gender, but maintaining a critical perspective encourages examination of other, noncorporeal attributes of the figurine—costume, implements held, posture...