An Archaeology of Belonging: A Theory and its Practice in a Colonial Situation

Summary

An archaeology of belonging explores a new and developing element in the field of archaeology; using elements of attachment to place with landscape identity as a theoretical tool to look at the colonial and diasporic expansion of non-Amerindian populations into the San Emigdio Hills, South Central California. Although the theme of belonging was recently discussed in the International Journal of Historical Archaeology (published 2012) and some archaeologists have worked with attachment to place within the landscape tradition, more work is needed to show how belonging can be inferred from the archaeological record. Using the theorization of archaeology of belonging as an approach, I will look at how non-Amerindian peoples created a sense of belonging in their settlements through material culture and landscape archaeology.  This paper proposes to hypothesize not only how this goal can be accomplished, but also develop the theorization of an archaeology of belonging.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Obscured by Clouds: Landscapes in Historical Archaeology   •
• Society for Historical Archaeology 2013

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Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology

Record Identifiers

PaperId(s): 569