How Revolutionary is Chinese Diaspora Archaeology?

Douglas Ross

How Revolutionary is Chinese Diaspora Archaeology?

Year: 2020

Summary

This is an abstract from the session entitled "Arming the Resistance: Recent Scholarship in Chinese Diaspora Archaeology" , at the 2020 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.

In this opening paper, I set the stage for the presentations and discussions that follow by examining the ways archaeologists of the Chinese diaspora have explored the topic of “revolution,” as defined in the conference theme. I draw on recently published literature and on an imminently forthcoming edited volume on Chinese diaspora archaeology to take a critical, reflexive look at our contributions to issues of diversity, rebellion, resistance, survivance, and commemoration in both scholarly and resource management archaeology. Focus is on what aspects of revolution we have addressed and what methodological and theoretical tools we have employed, but also where the gaps and shortcomings are are and what we might learn from scholars in other sub-disciplines of historical archaeology. The goal is to help frame the moderated discussion that closes this session and identify productive avenues for future research, both individually and collectively.