Assembling indigeneity: Rethinking innovation, tradition and indigenous materiality in a 19th-century native toolkit

Heather Law Pezzarossi · 2014 · Journal of Social Archaeology

Summary. This paper analyzes iron tools from a 19th-century Nipmuc home site in Massachusetts to understand how Native woodsplint basketmaking emerged as a trade practice. The baskets were marketed as traditional and authentic to Anglo-American buyers, yet their forms, decorations, and tools were actually innovations developed in post-Revolutionary economic conditions. The author uses assemblage theory to show how Indigenous innovation and tradition coexist rather than conflict.

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Pezzarossi, H. L.. (2014). Assembling indigeneity: Rethinking innovation, tradition and indigenous materiality in a 19th-century native toolkit. Journal of Social Archaeology. https://doi.org/10.1177/1469605314536975

@article{pezzarossi-2014-assembling-indigeneity-rethinking-innovation-tradition,
  title   = {Assembling indigeneity: Rethinking innovation, tradition and indigenous materiality in a 19th-century native toolkit},
  author  = {Heather Law Pezzarossi},
  journal = {Journal of Social Archaeology},
  year    = {2014},
  doi     = {10.1177/1469605314536975},
  url     = {https://doi.org/10.1177/1469605314536975}
}

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Details

DOI: 10.1177/1469605314536975
Countries: United States
Regions: North America
Categories: indigenous-innovation, innovation-theory
Added: 2026-04-28