For my undergraduate anthropology honors thesis, I wrote “Power + the City: an Embodied Approach to Analysis” under the brilliant advisement of Dr. Elizabeth Minor. It was 74 pages long (this is me bragging) and you can view it here! I hope you enjoyed my previews.
I wrote about how states use various mechanisms to legitimize and control behavior. My thesis examines how ancient states regulated power through deliberate city planning by focusing on the postclassic Aztec settlement of Tenochtitlan between 1200 and 1519 CE. More specifically, I discuss (1) sociospatial seclusion, (2) markets, and (3) public monuments. My analytic approach to this thesis is interdisciplinary, bridging the gap between archaeology and anthropology through conventional primary and secondary sources (such as codices, excavation reports, maps, theoretical analysis) as well as experimental sensory approaches. If the city is teeming with affect, why not consider how that came to be? Engagement with the senses as a mode of spatial analysis is thus an exciting technique.
