Pain is an evolutionary and adaptive mechanism to prevent harm to an individual. Beyond this, how it is defined, expressed, and borne is dictated culturally. Thus, the study of pain requires a holistic approach crossing cultures, disciplines, and time. This volume explores how and why pain-inducing behaviors are selected, including their potential to demonstrate individuality, navigate social hierarchies, and express commitment to an ideal. It also explores how power dynamics affect individual choice, at times requiring self-induced suffering. Taking bioanthropological and bioarchaeological approaches, this volume focuses on those who purposefully seek pain to show that, while often viewed as “exotic,” the pervasiveness of pain-inducing practices is more normative than expected. Theory and practice are employed to re-conceptualize pain as a strategic path towards achieving broader individual and societal goals. Past and present motivations for self-inflicted pain, its socio-political repercussions, and the physical manifestations of repetitive or long-term pain inducing behaviors are examined. Chapters span geographic and temporal boundaries and a wide variety of activities to illustrate how purposeful pain is used by individuals for personal expression and manipulated by political powers to maintain the status quo. This volume reveals how bioarchaeology illuminates paleopathology, how social theory enhances bioarchaeology, and how ethnography benefits from a longer temporal perspective.
Author(s): Susan Guise Sheridan, Lesley Gregoricka
Series: Bioarchaeology And Social Theory
Publisher: Springer
Year: 2020
Language: English
Pages: 281
Tags: Archaeology
Foreword......Page 6
Contents......Page 8
List of Figures......Page 13
List of Tables......Page 18
Introduction......Page 19
Theoretical Overview......Page 20
What Is Pain?......Page 22
Factor Affecting Pain Perception......Page 23
Pain Versus Suffering......Page 26
Identity and Pain......Page 28
Purposeful Pain Volume......Page 29
Literature Cited......Page 31
Part I: No Pain, No Gain: Ideals of Beauty and Success......Page 36
Introduction......Page 37
Bioarchaeology and Paleopathology......Page 38
Tuberculosis......Page 39
Skeletal Manifestations of TB......Page 40
History of the Disease......Page 42
Purposeful Pain and TB......Page 44
Risk Factors......Page 45
Views on Fashion and Genius in the Eighteenth- and Nineteenth Centuries......Page 46
TB and Corsets......Page 47
TB and Vitamin D Deficiency......Page 48
Conclusions......Page 49
References Cited......Page 50
Introduction......Page 55
Binding the Female Body......Page 56
Foot-Binding......Page 57
Elongated Necks/Neck Rings......Page 61
Tight-Lacing/Corsets......Page 64
Social Control, Chronic Violence......Page 68
Theoretical Modeling......Page 69
Gender Theory......Page 70
Structural Violence......Page 72
Bioarchaeology and Theory in Analyses......Page 73
Written on the Bone: Conclusions......Page 74
References Cited......Page 75
Introduction......Page 79
Concussions......Page 80
Risk Knowledge and Meaningful Play......Page 82
Bioarchaeology of Boxing......Page 83
The Meaning of Pain......Page 86
Sport, Injury, and Structural Pain......Page 88
Conclusions......Page 90
References......Page 91
Part II: Rituals of Pain and Practice......Page 94
Introduction......Page 95
Discovery of Stephen’s Remains......Page 96
Byzantine St. Stephen’s Monastery......Page 97
Pain and Byzantine Piety......Page 100
Bioarchaeological Model......Page 101
Commingling......Page 102
Musculoskeletal Markers of the Innominate and Proximal Femur......Page 103
Femoral Neck Nonmetric Traits......Page 106
Cross-Sectional Geometry of the Femur......Page 108
Nonmetric Traits of the Distal Femur......Page 111
Osteoarthritis of the Distal Femur......Page 113
Tibial and Talar Squatting Facets......Page 115
Metatarsal Alterations......Page 118
Conclusions......Page 121
References Cited......Page 124
Introduction......Page 132
The Process of Tattooing......Page 134
Tattoo Pain, Benefits, and Longevity......Page 137
The Iceman and His Tattoos......Page 140
Discussion......Page 143
Conclusions......Page 144
References......Page 145
Introduction......Page 150
Types of Dental Modification......Page 151
Filed Teeth Among the Vikings......Page 152
Skill Level and Pain Potential......Page 156
Why Modify the Teeth?......Page 157
Conclusion......Page 158
References Cited......Page 159
Introduction......Page 162
Human Childbirth......Page 163
Bioarchaeology of Childbirth......Page 165
Cesarean Sections in Antiquity......Page 169
Biocultural Case Study: Birth in Latin America......Page 171
The Somatic Body in Childbirth......Page 174
Childbirth Pain and Its Degree......Page 176
Emotions During Childbirth......Page 178
The Medical Setting in Childbirth......Page 179
Discussion......Page 180
References......Page 184
Introduction......Page 190
The Pleasure and Pain of Using......Page 191
Biocultural Approach......Page 192
Evolution and Addiction......Page 194
Social Science Research and Addiction......Page 197
Bioarchaeology of Substance Production and Use......Page 200
Conclusion......Page 202
References......Page 203
Part III: The Politics of Pain: Power and Social Control......Page 207
Introduction......Page 208
Body in Three Perspectives......Page 209
Ethnographic Evidence of Pain as Performance......Page 211
Ritual Warfare in the Pre-Columbian Americas......Page 213
Fighting for Status: The Politics of Pain in the Pre-Columbian American Southwest......Page 214
References Cited......Page 219
Introduction......Page 226
Empathy......Page 227
Pain......Page 228
Torture......Page 230
Whitehead’s Poetics Model......Page 232
The Poetics of Pain Case Studies......Page 233
Bioarchaeological Poetics of Pain: Sacred Ridge......Page 234
References Cited......Page 240
Introduction......Page 243
Cranial Vault Modification......Page 245
Infant Pain......Page 249
Documenting the Experience of Cranial-Shaping......Page 251
Bioarchaeological Evidence......Page 254
Case Study: Cranial Modification in San Pedro de Atacama......Page 255
Conclusion......Page 258
References Cited......Page 259
Introduction......Page 263
Enacting Corporal Ideals of Gender Identity Through Pain......Page 265
Pain as a Pathway to Being a “Good” Mother......Page 266
Pain and Injury as a Means to Masculine Belonging, Patriotic Devotion, and Maintaining Order......Page 268
References Cited......Page 273
Index......Page 275
