Glossary

Androcentrism An unreflective assumption of a unified male perspective that does not allow for differences in perspectives of women and men.

Dichotomy Division into two parts, groups, or classes, especially when these are sharply distinguished or opposed. division of labor The anthropological concept that in every society there is a normal distribution of tasks among people of different age, sex, or other identity statuses. ethnographic analogy The procedure of using observations of living societies made by anthropologists as a basis for interpretation of archaeological patterning, based either on specific historical continuities or on similar characteristics that allow one case to be generalized and identified with another. feminist archaeology An explicitly political approach to archaeology that critically examines androcentrism and gender inequity in the present practice of archaeology, encourages analyses of inequality in past societies, especially inequalities on lines of sex, and advocates awareness of the implications of models of past gender relations for contemporary society. gender Often used to distinguish the cultural interpretation of sex differences, including the assignment of different roles on the basis of biological sex, and understood as a culturally created and therefore historically changing aspect of human identity. processual archaeology The idea that archaeology should identify the processes through which past societies developed in their historical forms, with an emphasis on the generalizable aspects of what happened in the past.