Description

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This book examines the Japanese diaspora from the historical archaeology perspective--drawing from archaeological data, archival research, and often oral history--and explores current trends in archaeological scholarship while also looking at new methodological and theoretical directions. The chapters include research on pre-War rural labor camps or villages in the US, as well as research on western Canada (British Columbia), Peru, and the Pacific Islands (Hawai'i and Tinian), incorporating work on understudied urban and cemetery sites. One of the main themes explored in the book is patterns of cultural persistence and change, whether couched in terms of maintenance of tradition, "Americanization," or the formation of dual identities. Other themes emerging from these chapters include consumption, agency, stylistic analysis, community lifecycles, social networks, diaspora and transnationalism, gender, and sexuality. Also included are discussions of trauma, racialization, displacement, labor, heritage, and community engagement. Some are presented as fully formed interpretive frameworks with substantial supporting data, while others are works in progress or tentative attempts to push the boundaries of our field into innovative new territory. This book is of interest to students and researchers in historical archaeology, anthropology, sociology of migration, diaspora studies and historiography.

Previously published in International Journal of Historical Archaeology Volume 25, issue 3, September 2021.

About the Author

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​Dr. Douglas Ross earned a PhD in Archaeology from Simon Fraser University in 2009, is a Registered Professional Archaeologist, and has been a Project Manager at Albion since 2016. He is responsible for the management and direction of projects that impact postcolonial resources. Doug develops management plans and directs survey, testing, and data recovery projects. Over the past two decades, he has worked internationally on a range of sites spanning the 16th through 20th centuries. His primary area of expertise are archaeological resources from the western US and Canada dating to the late 19th and early 20th centuries, particularly sites associated with Chinese and Japanese immigrants. He is a leading expert on Japanese ceramics recovered from historic sites and the history and practice of Chinese diaspora archaeology in North America.Koji Lau-Ozawa is an historical archaeologist whose research examines the intersecting realms of landscapes, diaspora, material culture, and memory. His research focuses on the archaeology of the Japanese diaspora, examining the material connections and landscapes of Japanese American communities. In particular he has worked in collaboration with the Gila River Indian Community to investigate the site of the WWII Gila River Incarceration Camp. This long-term project combines archaeological, oral historical and archival research in a transnational framework to study the camp landscape and flows of material culture. He has also conducted investigations on the material culture of a pre-WWII urban Japanese American community in Santa Barbara. These projects have been supported by the Wenner-Gren Foundation, The Japanese American Confinement Sites Grant, as well as the Society for California Archaeology.