Materiality Matters: The Role of Things in Coping Strategies at Cunningham’s Camp, Douglas During World War I

Abstract

Internment for any length of time is a stressful situation, and those incarcerated had to develop strategies to cope with the overcrowding, loss of ­privacy, limited diet, restricted activities and separation from family, friends, and the rest of society. The threat of depression and other psychological conditions, known in World War I as “barbed wire disease,” was ameliorated by a range of strategies on the part of the internees. Material culture in the form of buildings, equipment, personal possessions, and items produced within the internment camp all played a crucial role in enabling survival. Utilizing medical and psychological studies of coping strategies, it is possible for archaeologists to understand the use of material culture in stressful contexts in the past, here using the World War I example of Cunningham’s Camp in Douglas, Isle of Man.