Marcia-Anne Dobres Explained

Marcia-Anne Dobres
Workplaces:	University of Southern Maine
Alma Mater:	University of California, Berkeley

Marcia-Anne Dobres was an American archaeologist whose research focused primarily on the confluence of gender, agency, and technology. She was a professor at the University of Southern Maine.^[1] She died of thyroid cancer on May 14, 2021.^[2]

Education

Dobres received her B.A. Summa cum Laude from New York University in 1986 and her M.A. from Binghamton University in 1988, both in Anthropology.^[3] In 1995, Dobres graduated with her Ph.D. in Anthropology from the University of California, Berkeley. Her Ph.D. advisor was Dr. Margaret W. Conkey.

Research

Technology and social agency

Dobres' body of work examines the association between technology and social agency. Instead of focusing primarily on the materiality of technology, Dobres expounds the value of analyzing cultures through the lens of technological production. Dobres suggests that technology is inextricably linked to cultural practices, as the production of technology is shaped by social processes and is an avenue through which culture is expressed.^[4]

Dobres explores these concepts in her book Technology and Social Agency: Outlining a Practice Framework for Archaeology.^{[5] [6]} This publication focuses on how the study of technology and social agency can be used to better understand how social constructs control and have controlled production of materials through the centuries.^[7] Much of her other work contains research around similar topics such as gender, prehistoric technology and art, and societal impacts on such things.^[8]

Selected bibliography

• Technology and Social Agency: Outlining a Practice Framework for Archaeology, 2000.^{[9] [10] [11]}
• The Phenomenal Promise of Chaîne Opératoire: Mindfully Engaged Bodies and the Manufacture of Personhood in a Regional Perspective, 2010.
• Agency in Archaeology (editor), 2000.^[12]
• The Social Dynamics of Technology: Practice, Politics, and World Views, 1999.^{[13] [14]}

Notes and References

1. Web site: Remembering Marcia-Anne Dobres Geography-Anthropology University of Southern Maine . usm.maine.edu . 11 June 2021 . 11 June 2021 . https://web.archive.org/web/20210611201834/https://usm.maine.edu/geography-anthropology/remembering-marcia-anne-dobres . dead .
2. Web site: Remembering Marcia-Anne Dobres Geography-Anthropology University of Southern Maine . 2022-02-28 . usm.maine.edu . 2021-11-24 . https://web.archive.org/web/20211124144911/https://usm.maine.edu/geography-anthropology/remembering-marcia-anne-dobres . dead .
3. Web site: Dr. Marcia-Anne Dobres - Department of Anthropology - University of Maine. Department of Anthropology. en-US. 2019-02-08.
4. Dobres . Anne . Social Agency and the Dynamics of Prehistoric Technology. . Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory . 1994 . 3 . 1 . 211–58 . 10.1007/BF02231876 . 20177312. 143749717 .
5. Book: Dobres . Marcia-Anne . Technology and Social Agency: Outlining a Practice Framework for Archaeology . 2000 . Blackwell . 978-1577181231.
6. Ahearn . Laura . Language and Agency . Annual Review of Anthropology . October 2001 . 30 . 109–137 . 10.1146/annurev.anthro.30.1.109.
7. Book: Hicks . Dan . The Material Cultural Turn: Event and Effect . 2010 . Oxford University Press . Oxford . 25–98.
8. Dobres . Marcia-Anne . Archaeologies of Technology . Cambridge Journal of Economics . 28 April 2009 . 34 . 1 . 103–114 . 10.1093/cje/bep014.
9. Sillar. Bill. 2002. Marcia-Anne Dobres. Technology and social agency: outlining a practice framework for archaeology. xiii+300 pages, 25 figures. 2000. Oxford & Malden (MA): Blackwell; 1-57718-123-9 hardback £55 & $70.95, 1-57718-124-7 paperback £17.99 & $33.95.. Antiquity. en. 76. 292. 593–594. 10.1017/S0003598X00090852. 162880614 . 0003-598X.
10. Wright. Rita P.. 2004. Review of Technology and Social Agency. Technology and Culture. 45. 1. 231–232. 0040-165X. 40060626. 10.1353/tech.2004.0051. 111339926 .
11. Stockl. Andrea. 2000. Review of Technology and Social Agency. Outlining a Practice Framework for Archaeology. Cambridge Anthropology. 22. 1. 78–80. 0305-7674. 23820355.
12. Mullins. Paul R.. 2001. Technology and Social Agency. Marcia-Anne Dobres. 2000. Blackwell Publishers, Oxford, UK. xii + 300 pp. $62.95 (cloth), ISBN 1-57718-123-9; $29.95 (paper), ISBN 1-57718-124-7.Agency in Archaeology. Marcia-Anne Dobres and John Robb, editors. 2000. Routledge, NY. xiii + 270 pp. $32.99 (paper), ISBN 0-415-20761-4.. American Antiquity. en. 66. 4. 755–756. 10.2307/2694198. 0002-7316. 2694198.
13. Miller. Heather M.-L.. 2000. The Social Dynamics of Technology: Practice, Politics, and World Views. Marcia-Anne Dobres and Christopher R. Hoffman, editors. 1999. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, D.C. xvi +240 pp., 29 figures, 1 table, references cited, index. $45.00 (cloth), ISBN 1- 56098-909-2.. American Antiquity. en. 65. 1. 201–202. 10.2307/2694820. 0002-7316. 2694820. 158016747 .
14. Field. Gregory. 2001. Review of The Social Dynamics of Technology: Practice, Politics, and World Views. Technology and Culture. 42. 2. 336–338. 0040-165X. 25147704. 10.1353/tech.2001.0059. 110114275 .