Historical Archaeologies of Diaspora: Moving Between Boundaries and Beyond Peripheries

DOCUMENT Citation Only David M Markus.

Jews, as a cultural and religious group, have been largely underrepresented in archaeological studies of diaspora populations. Recently there has been a paradigm shift in diaspora archaeology toward understanding these populations from both the perspective of their originating geography as well as their diasporic home. The archaeology of Jewry in North America has largely centered on a period, from 1820-1880, that largely saw migrations from Eastern European populations. These people, known...

DOCUMENT Citation Only Stephen A. Brighton.

In the context of modern history, diaspora is traditionally defined as a reluctant scattering of a large number of people to two or more international locations.  Most studies in the social sciences and humanities have concentrated efforts towards understanding how new experiences and contacts have shaped diasporic groups once away from their homelands. In essence, most studies are structured by the culture continuity/cultural change dynamic in new places of settlement. The established focus of...

DOCUMENT Citation Only Kelly Fong.

In the aftermath of mid-19th century Western imperialist and capitalist expansion in China, the Chinese Diaspora grew beyond Southeast Asia as migrants left southern China for Australia, North America, and South America.  Despite being separated by the Pacific Ocean, these Chinese communities in the United States did not live in isolation.  Instead, they remained highly connected to their home villages and districts in southern China as well as communities throughout the Diaspora through the...

DOCUMENT Citation Only Annelise E. Morris.

The legal status and civil rights of Free Persons of Color in the U.S. were constantly being negotiated throughout the 19th century from state to state, and varied from relative amounts of freedom and legal rights to strict "Black Laws" barely removed from slavery. This paper explores the ways in which Free Black Pioneers utilized the changing state and local boundaries (and with them, quickly changing legal status for Free People of Color) to their advantage, capitalizing on their racial...

DOCUMENT Citation Only Edward Gonzalez-Tennant.

This paper examines how a focus on "culturally bounded" groups restricts historical archaeology’s exploration of oppressive social practices such as slavery, racism, and inequality. Competing interpretations of a single class of material culture – in this case, Chinese coins – illuminates how bias enters archaeological interpretations in subtle ways. Chinese coins, also known as wen have been recovered from historic sites on nearly every continent.  The author focuses on the interpretation of...

DOCUMENT Citation Only James Davidson.

Recognizing ethnic identities through materiality has long been a goal of American historical archaeology, in particular within the African Diaspora.  The ability to identify and interpret archaeologically the material residues of these past social behaviors has most successfully relied upon exclusive contexts of interaction and access; African customs may be "recognized" in slave cabins, while European customs and beliefs may manifest materially within predominately or exclusively Euroamerican...