Constructing Context Before, During, and After Internment Through Japanese-American Incarceration and the Historic 20th Century Redman-Hirahara Farmstead

Summary

This is an abstract from the session entitled "Diverse and Enduring: Archaeology from Across the Asian Diaspora" , at the 2022 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.

This paper explores the context following Japanese-American incarceration in the United States after WWII using the Redman-Hirahara Farmstead. Built at the turn of the 20th century, this property showcases one family’s unique journey navigating this period. The Hirahara family moved into the Victorian farmstead in Watsonville, CA in 1941. Following the war, the Hiraharas uniquely returned to their farm in Watsonville where they offered another Japanese family, the Hanes, to stay in their carriage barn. Excavations of the farmstead in 2005 revealed a collection of artifacts pertaining to this extended legacy of the house, presenting new lines of evidence for how incarceration may shift consumer activities, alter material representation, and overlap with the daily operations of historic west coast farmsteads. These intertwined family stories, paired with ethnographic accounts from the region, reveal the many challenges the Hiraharas faced upon their return to their previous livelihoods, home, and community.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Diverse and Enduring: Archaeology from Across the Asian Diaspora   •
• Society for Historical Archaeology 2022

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Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology

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