Diaspora on the Block: Neighborhood Archaeology as Theory and Method

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Seeing Migrant and Diaspora Communities Archaeologically: Beyond the Cultural Fixity/Fluidity Binary" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

The archaeology of diaspora has grown in many directions during the first two decades of the twenty-first century. It has become a key way of understanding the short-term and long-term connections between people and communities defined by movement and migration. However, archaeologists of diaspora still at times struggle with old models of interpretation that seek out ethnic markers in material culture or signs of acculturation. How then do we move past these paradigmatic pitfalls? In this paper we look to the concept of the neighborhood as a potential avenue away from a cul-de-sac of theoretical stagnation. Neighborhoods, spatially proximal areas in towns and cities, often comprise multiple diasporic communities in close contact. Ethnic and racial lines are not necessarily neatly maintained challenging fixity or fluidity binaries when approaching diasporic communities. Thinking of the neighborhood as an interpretive model in itself challenges us to think past siloed communities and look to the distinct ways in which social identities and networks are dynamically shaped by living space in urban contexts. Utilizing material from Santa Barbara’s Nihonmachi, we attempt to think through material culture through the lens of the neighborhood, appreciating the blurred lines across the multiple communities living on the block.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Seeing Migrant and Diaspora Communities Archaeologically: Beyond the Cultural Fixity/Fluidity Binary   •
• Society for American Archaeology 88th Annual Meeting, Portland, OR (2023)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 36428.0