Landscape, Popular Histories, and the Racialization of Chinese in Evanston, WY

Summary

This is an abstract from the session entitled "In the Sticks but Not in the Weeds II: Historical Whitewashing and Modern Reimagining of Rural America’s Fantasy Past", at the 2025 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.

In the present day, race and its imagination remains a prominent force that structures and shapes people's lives as it has in the past. This paper uses the lens of racialization to examine Evanston, Wyoming’s Chinatown community from 1870 to 1922 and as an archaeological site in the present. Particularly, I will examine landscape modification and the historical imaginary of Chinatown and how they have played a part in whitewashing and erasing the lived experiences and struggles of the former Chinatown residents. Further, I will identify how popular historical narratives of the Evanston Chinatown are shaped and defined by false stereotypes grounded in past white supremacist attitudes originating in the late 19th century. Finally, I will highlight efforts to reclaim the history of Evanston’s Chinatown for its descendant community and what is being done to recenter Chinese experiences and perspectives in the history of Evanston.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• In the Sticks but Not in the Weeds II: Historical Whitewashing and Modern Reimagining of Rural America’s Fantasy Past   •
• Society for Historical Archaeology 2025

Keywords

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Nicole Haddow