British Identities through Pottery in Praxis

The Case Study of a Royal Navy Ship in the South Atlantic

Bibliographic Data

ID2390864
AuthorsVirginia Dellino-Musgrave (University of Southampton and University of Nottingham, UK, corresponding author)
Year2005
Volume10
Issue3
Pages219-243
Publication date2005-11-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Material Culture (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1359-1835 • E-ISSN: 1460-3586
PublisherSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/1359183505057145
OpenAlexW2081608840
LanguageEN
Citations received9
References cited24

This article examines British action in the South Atlantic by applying the concept of praxis - or practical action - to the analysis of the materiality of social relations. This is achieved through the investigation of ships and the biography of their objects, identifying patterns of production and consumption. I concentrate on local scales looking at objects and the social relations they construct in Royal Navy ships and the different ways that identities are expressed and projected. I particularly focus on a case study: the pottery assemblage of sloop of war His Majesty's Ship (HMS) Swift (1763-1770) located in Puerto Deseado (Santa Cruz Province, Argentina). By utilizing the concept of praxis, this article goes beyond a descriptive analysis of wrecks by exploring them and their cargoes as embodiments of 18th-century social relations. More importantly, it will challenge traditional maritime approaches providing a different perspective that emphasizes the richness, diversity and complexity of British action at the end of the 18th century

Action (physics · Aesthetics · Archaeology · Art · Assemblage (archaeology · Materiality (auditing · Political science · Pottery · Praxis · Sociology · Colonialism, slavery, and trade · Historical and Cultural Archaeology Studies · History · Law · Maritime and Coastal Archaeology

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