Theses and Dissertations
Issuing Body
Mississippi State University
Advisor
Zuckerman, Molly, K.
Committee Member
Galaty, Michael
Committee Member
Miller, Darcy Shane
Date of Degree
12-1-2019
Original embargo terms
Visible to MSU only for 3 Years
Document Type
Graduate Thesis - Open Access
Major
Applied Anthropology
Degree Name
Master of Arts
Degree Name
Master of Arts (M.A.)
College
College of Arts and Sciences
College
College of Arts and Sciences
Department
Department of Anthropology and Middle Eastern Cultures
Department
Department of Anthropology and Middle Eastern Cultures
Abstract
This study argues that there are temporally and socially observable trends present in a sample of Protestant cemeteries from St. Croix’s Danish Colonial Period, as evidenced by the analysis of gravestone characteristics including iconography, morphology, and epitaph. Specifically, gravestones within the sample became noticeably more simplistic in the mid-19th century, which directly reflects St. Croix’s economic decline following emancipation. Although the iconographic and morphological characteristics of the gravestones for men and women and children and adults are largely identical, the epitaphic inscriptions for these groups exhibit a great deal of differentiation. Through analysis of these epitaphs, we discover that society on St. Croix was extremely similar to that of Europe and North America, in which men inhabit the public sphere, women the private sphere, and children are recognized for their cultural importance and biological vulnerability. However, I posit that women, while limited in public autonomy, did possess a degree of authority over familial structure.
URI
https://hdl.handle.net/11668/16436
Recommended Citation
Higgs, Brittany, "“These Sculptur’d Lines”: An analysis of Protestant burial practices on St. Croix during the Danish Colonial Period (1733-1917)" (2019). Theses and Dissertations. 13.
https://scholarsjunction.msstate.edu/td/13