Sophie Crawford-Brown
My dissertation uses architectural terracottas to examine the ways in which central Italian communities expressed civic identity through visual culture in the mid-to-late Republic. Cosa and Minturnae, together with their surrounding regions, constitute the principle case-studies for my analysis. Contrary to the Rome-centered perspectives of previous terracotta studies, I examine how architectural terracottas were employed to emphasize local traditions (Etruscan, Latin, Samnite, Auruncan, etc.), and to construct and assert communal identity. Network theory is critical to my approach, as it eschews center–periphery models and instead provides a flexible and data-driven framework for charting cultural exchange across multiple network scales.