The writing on the wall: the concealed communities of the East Yorkshire horselads

TY - JOUR

T1 - The writing on the wall: the concealed communities of the East Yorkshire horselads

AU - Giles, Kate

AU - Giles, Melanie

N1 - © Copyright Springer Science + Business Media, LLC 2007. This is an author-generated copy of the published article. The original publication is available at www.springerlink.com. Uploaded in accordance with the publisher's self-archiving policy.

PY - 2007/12

Y1 - 2007/12

N2 - This paper examines the graffiti found within late nineteenth and early-twentieth century farm buildings in the Wolds of East Yorkshire. It suggests that the graffiti were created by a group of young men at the bottom of the social hierarchy - the horselads – and was one of the ways in which they constructed a distinctive sense of communal identity, at a particular stage in their lives. Whilst it tells us much about changing agricultural regimes and social structures, it also informs us about experiences and attitudes often hidden from official histories and biographies. In this way, the graffiti are argued to inform our understanding, not only of a concealed community, but also about their hidden history

AB - This paper examines the graffiti found within late nineteenth and early-twentieth century farm buildings in the Wolds of East Yorkshire. It suggests that the graffiti were created by a group of young men at the bottom of the social hierarchy - the horselads – and was one of the ways in which they constructed a distinctive sense of communal identity, at a particular stage in their lives. Whilst it tells us much about changing agricultural regimes and social structures, it also informs us about experiences and attitudes often hidden from official histories and biographies. In this way, the graffiti are argued to inform our understanding, not only of a concealed community, but also about their hidden history

KW - Graffiti

KW - Identity

KW - Farm buildings

KW - Horselads

U2 - 10.1007/s10761-007-0037-3

DO - 10.1007/s10761-007-0037-3

M3 - Article

SN - 1092-7697

VL - 11

JO - International Journal of Historical Archaeology

JF - International Journal of Historical Archaeology

IS - 4

ER -