Palimpsests and Practices: Preliminary Thoughts on the Landscape as a Mediator of Political and Social Meaning at Barneston, Washington (1898-1924)

Summary

The landscapes of sawmill company towns are complex palimpsests formed from an array of practices and structures that influenced daily life. They served as sites of socioeconomic order, industry, inequality, and persistence for a diverse array of inhabitants. This paper will explore the complex and multi-vocal nature of such landscapes through a multi-scalar analysis of the spatial organization and context of a first-generation Japanese American (Issei) community at Barneston, Washington (1898-1924). It will draw on the results of surface survey at the site, along with documentary and oral testimonial evidence, to provide some preliminary thoughts on how Barneston’s landscape may reflect the social and economic hardships of sawmill town life, the racial and labor hierarchies of Barneston itself, and the traditions and needs of the Issei who lived there.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Critical Mass: The Emerging Field of Japanese Diaspora Archaeology   •
• Society for Historical Archaeology 2018

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Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology

Record Identifiers

PaperId(s): 578