Prestige symbol manipulation: Controlling form and meaning.

Abstract

This study explores the dynamics of prestige symbol manipulation, which is defined here as the control of the form and meaning of a prestige symbol by an individual or group. This can involve creating a new symbol, changing the form or meaning of an established symbol, or inhibiting change in symbolic form or meaning. A number of prestige symbol manipulation processes can be recognized that occur cross-culturally. For heuristic purposes, these are described in abstract terms as distinct processes, focusing on how each process can produce or inhibit change in the form and/or meaning of a symbol of prestige. Ethnographic and historic examples are used to illustrate these processes. The dynamic and interconnected nature of these manipulation processes is demonstrated through the detailed examination of a particular historic example---the creation, establishment, and proliferation of the modern form of Carnival celebration in New Orleans. Modern Carnival celebrations in this city include both public parades and private balls, which are organized and paid for by private Carnival organizations known as krewes. Today, the oldest Carnival organizations are considered to be elite, and membership in these krewes and participation in their private balls serve as symbols of prestige. The history of these krewes during the nineteenth century, a period of socio-political change, provides an illustration of the dynamics of prestige symbol manipulation. The archeological correlates of the processes of prestige symbol manipulation also are considered. These processes, which can produce or inhibit change in the symbolic form and/or meaning of a symbol of prestige, can lead to variation or standardization in the material remains of prestige symboling. The usefulness of this approach for interpreting variability in the archeological record is illustrated briefly by two examples from Hopewell earthwork complexes in the central Scioto valley of Ohio. Possible directions for future research also are suggested. By including the New Orleans Carnival and Ohio Hopewell examples in this study, I am not suggesting that one is in any way directly analogous to the other. I am suggesting that prestige symbol manipulation processes occurred in both examples.