Archaeological Histories of Urban Indians and Why They Matter

Summary

Social archaeology today takes research far beyond questions of “subsistence and dating.” It pushes inquiries into historic and recent pasts and is unapologetic in its embrace of anthropologically-informed, hybrid methodologies. Not in the least, it maintains a keen awareness of the role that socially-engaged research can play in the contemporary world. Since the 1990s, multifaceted and collaborative archaeological studies of Native Americans have systematically challenged dominant, and damaging, narratives about their colonial experiences. Providing compelling evidence for Native persistence that allows for change, this research comments on the complex realities of practices of survivance that created presence over absence, renounced domination, and rejected victimry, and thus, involved more than instincts of survival and subsistence. Ongoing research on indigenous communities of diverse ancestry in late 19th and early 20th century New England contributes to understanding how issues of race, authenticity, and urban renewal were used in attempts to erase them from the landscape. Their efforts to maintain an Indian presence in modern, urban contexts is the next chapter of Native survivance to be written, and one that has important implications for tribal groups in the region still striving for federal recognition.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 81st Annual Meeting, Orlando, FL (2016)   •
• Why Social Archaeology Matters

Keywords

Spatial Coverage