Brenda Bowser: Cal State Fullerton Department of Anthropology

This paper examines the transmission of stylistic behavior in the community of Conambo. The people of Conambo are self-sufficient horticultural foragers who are strongly divided into two competing coalitions with flexible membership and defections across the coalitional boundary. The women of Conambo maintain a domestic polychrome ceramic tradition absent from external market influences. Previous studies show that pottery design in Conambo is understood and used strategically as a marker of group membership. In this paper we report age and status differences in perception and transmission of stylistic behavior, indicating that women’s pottery style and strategies of signification track life-history changes in their political relationships with in-group and out-group allies. We argue that in Conambo the transmission of ceramic design is influenced by the political strategies of women throughout their lives.