Ave Maria, FL: A Mixed Methods Material Culture Analysis

IntroductionThis article provides an explanation of how the spatial distribution of material culture contributes to the construction of identity in a place-based, domaincentered community of practice. Understanding the spatial distribution of the material culture within a landscape leads to a more nuanced and robust understanding of the cultural meanings and values than can be gained simply from the analysis of the objects themselves. Geographic Information Systems (GIS) is used in this study as a platform to represent the landscape of the community and to conduct quantitative spatial analysis of the material culture in that landscape.The community that serves as a case study in this research is Ave Maria, Florida. The domain-focus of Ave Maria is the day-to-day practice of conservative Catholicism. The landscape of this new, urban-style town contains many material cultural traces such as the Oratory (Figure 1), a church structure that is the tallest feature in the landscape, visible throughout the development. It is a focal point that dramatically represents the community's domain focus.Barron Collier Companies, a real estate developer in Florida, and Tom Monaghan, a billionaire conservative Catholic philanthropist, were the two principal developers of Ave Maria. Barron Collier owned extensive tracts of interior South Florida land and wanted to develop it. Tom Monaghan developed a conservative Catholic college that he wanted to expand into a university. The town they designed, Ave Maria, was expected to convert 5,000 acres of interior South Florida agricultural land into a new urban community with 20,000 residents and 5,500 university students (Turner 2010, 36). Planning and permitting for the community began in 2001. Construction of Ave Maria started in 2005, and in 2007 the town opened (Figure 2).In 2010, when fieldwork for this study was conducted, Ave Maria encompassed several residential neighborhoods. A town center featured a number of shops, restaurants, offices, residential condominiums, and the centrally located Oratory A nascent industrial park was located in the development, as were several urban recreational areas including parks, tennis courts, and a golf course. Adjacent to the town center was the private conservative Catholic university, which served as a cornerstone for community development (Figure 3).It is difficult to overstate the degree of homogeneity that exists in Ave Maria. The 2010 Decennial Census indicated Ave Maria had a total population of 1,279 persons. 78 percent of the population were adults, 91 percent were white. This stands in contrast to the neighboring unincorporated town of Immokalee, which contained 24,154 persons, 66 percent of whom were adults and 44 percent white.The purpose of this article is to explore how the spatial distribution of material culture contributes to the construction of identity in a place-based, domaincentered community of practice. The article is particularly concerned with several ways quantitative GIS can contribute to a broader mixed-methods analysis of spatial distribution. It begins with a brief overview of the portions of the history of material cultural analysis in geography that I have found particularly meaningful. Many other readings of this tradition exist that would rightly emphasize the work of other geographers or other aspects of the work of those whom I mention. This is followed by an overview of portions of the community of practice literature that inform my work generally, and that I find particularly useful for understanding Ave Maria. I then discuss two quantitative analytical techniques that are implemented through a GIS and the use of surveys. The results and analysis of the fieldwork data suggests the presence of a religious district in the town center that emphasizes the domain focus of the community and provides support for the community's day-to-day practices.Geographies of Material Cultural LandscapesStudying material culture constructed at the scales of geographic space in order to critically understand the values, ideas, attitudes, and assumptions of those who build, maintain, and occupy the landscape has become common in geography. …