Community and Corrosion: A Contemporary Archaeology of Montserrat’s Volcanic Crisis in Long-Term Comparative Perspective

Rothenberg, Miriam A. W.

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Year:: 2021
Contributor:: Rothenberg, Miriam A. W. (creator); Cherry, John (Advisor); van Dommelen, Peter (Reader); VanValkenburgh, Parker (Reader); Ryzewski, Krysta (Reader); Brown University. Department of Archaeology and the Ancient World (sponsor)
Genre:: theses
Subject:: Archaeology; Landscape archaeology; Caribbean Studies; Ethnography; Archaeology and history; Disasters; Contemporary Archaeology; Montserrat; Volcanic eruptions; Ancient Mediterranean; Archaeological geology
Extent:: xxvii, 493 p.

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Abstract:: This dissertation is an archaeological exploration of Montserrat’s ongoing volcanic crisis that integrates both how the island has changed as a result of the eruptions, and how the archaeological study of this particular catastrophe forces a reconsideration of the effects of other volcanic eruptions on the communities in their vicinity elsewhere in human history. Montserrat’s Soufrière Hills volcano suddenly sprang to life in July 1995, spurring multiple evacuations due to ashfall and the threat of pyroclastic flows. By 2000, more than half of the island—including the capital town of Plymouth—was abandoned, and two-thirds of the population had emigrated permanently. A quarter-century later, and with volcanic risk still high, Montserrat’s landscapes are characterized by an uneasy juxtaposition of extensive ruination with vibrant persistence, and the continuing volcanic crisis has served as a backdrop for emerging post-volcanic materialities, temporalities, and identities. In this dissertation, the Montserratian situation is placed in dialogue with the archaeological record of a much older set of volcanic eruptions that occurred in the Mediterranean. The comparison exposes how dynamism is an inherent feature of volcanic landscapes, despite it often being overlooked in archaeological interpretations. The ancient Mediterranean cases also demonstrate broader patterns of post-eruption cultural change that are used to contextualize Montserrat, along with ideas borrowed from several theoretical frameworks. To approach the processes that form and modify the archaeological record of volcanic eruptions, the dissertation relies on “time perspectivism” and “multi-temporality,” ideas that emphasize the importance of considering time not just as a linear phenomenon, but as a flow that is messy, reoccurring, and disruptive. Theories about materiality, assemblages, and object agency are employed to understand how volcanic vibrancy, or volcanicity, pervades the matter and materiality of volcanic things. Finally, the work engages with the emerging field of memory and trauma studies to investigate how volcanic eruptions and the landscape changes they create are experienced by the communities they affect. This is achieved by approaching the transgenerational transmission of disaster memory through the lens of local, Afro-Caribbean modes of coping with adversity and loss, along with more general theories of resilience, heritage, and ruination.
Notes:: Thesis (Ph. D.)--Brown University, 2021

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Rothenberg, Miriam A. W., "Community and Corrosion: A Contemporary Archaeology of Montserrat’s Volcanic Crisis in Long-Term Comparative Perspective" (2021). Graduate Research Theses and Dissertations. Brown Digital Repository. Brown University Library. https://repository.library.brown.edu/studio/item/bdr:5vjbq8bw/

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Graduate Research Theses and Dissertations

Theses and Dissertations for the Graduate Research department.
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