CHANGING USES OF ZAPOTEC DOMESTIC SPACE (MEXICO).

Abstract

The study of changes in the use of domestic space has received little attention in the past despite the implications of such research for everything from archaeology to architecture. This dissertation investigates the relationship between changes in domestic space use and sociocultural factors bearing on space use. A conceptual framework outlining the systemic relationships between domestic space use and various environmental, biological, and sociocultural factors is presented in Chapter 1. In Chapter 2 a set of data expectations is generated to test certain relationships established by the framework. Because of the existence of prior data on space use, the village of Diaz Ordaz, Oaxaca, Mexico was chosen as a study site. In Chapter 3 the village is described and placed in national and regional perspective, while in Chapter 4 demographic, economic, housing, and rural service changes in the village are outlined and viewed in light of similar national and regional changes. Chapter 5 treats changes in domestic space use particularly. A summary of trends of change in village domestic space and pertinent sociocultural variables is presented, followed by a review of the demographic, economic, and political conditions affecting the village today and a discussion of how these conditions relate to the trends of change. Tofts from the sample studied are classified on two scales: (1) the degree of development of space use and (2) the number of changes in space use. Explanatory models for both change in solar quality and the number of changes between two points in time are constructed and tested. It is determined that in the Diaz Ordaz case toft quality dropped with the gradual demise of the household and rose with an increase of income. On the other hand, the number of changes on a toft between two points in time appears to depend on relative wealth. Thus, given the economic, political, and demographic conditions of Mexico today, it appears that in rural villages diachronic change in domestic space use reflects changes in social/demographic and economic factors.