Interpreting ideology in Historical Archaeology
using the rules of perspective in the William Paca garden in Annapolis, Maryland
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.31239/vtg.v15i2.35404Keywords:
Historical Archaeology, Ideology, Annapolis, MarylandAbstract
This chapter focuses on the manner in which ideologically informed representations serve to naturalise the arbitrary nature of the social order. The construction of an eighteenth-century garden is shown to employ a number of means towards this aim. Through the use of classical quotations and the development of a concept of precedence with juridical associations, the garden presents a particular rationalisation of time, which also denies its own transient nature. Its geometry and optics exemplified in its use of perspective, serve towards a controlled rationalisation of space. Overall the garden not only acts as representation but also works as an instrument for the close experimental observation and control of nature. The garden and the segmented and ordered form of Georgian architecture can be related to the contradictions of a society proclaiming freedom and independence but maintaining a system of slavery. The deliberately planned wilderness garden exemplifies such contradictions.
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