An Archaeology of Ethnicity, Race, and Consumption in New York

An Archaeology of Ethnicity, Race, and Consumption in New York
Author: Jordon D. Loucks
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
Total Pages: 165
Release: 2020-05-29
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1793611769

An Archaeology of Ethnicity, Race, and Consumption in New York examines the archaeological visibility of ethnicity within the confines of nineteenth-century material culture from across New York State. The author discusses the limits of archaeological interpretations of ethnicity, presents the utility of material indications of racism in the archaeological record, considers the archaeological footprint of immigrant groups, and contextualizes these discussions with the economic development of the state of New York. The author argues that the construction of canals and railroads causes drastic changes in trade networks and available goods throughout the state, and impacted the lives of immigrant populations who both built and depended on these systems. This book recounts the exploitation of immigrant groups for hard labor to complete these arterial constructions, which in turn increases reliable accessibility to trade goods, but also provides archaeologists today an increased ability to understand the treatment of those immigrant groups by American society.

The Archaeology of Race and Racialization in Historic America

The Archaeology of Race and Racialization in Historic America
Author: Charles E. Orser
Publisher:
Total Pages: 213
Release: 2007
Genre: History
ISBN: 9780813031439

"Orser argues that race has not always been defined by skin color; through time its meaning has changed. The process of racialization has marked most groups who came to the United States in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and The Archaeology of Race and Racialization in Historic America demonstrates ways that historical archaeology can contribute to understanding a fundamental element of the American immigrant experience."--BOOK JACKET.

The Archaeology of Ethnicity

The Archaeology of Ethnicity
Author: Siân Jones
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 206
Release: 2002-11-01
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1134767935

The question of ethnicity is highly controversial in contemporary archaeology. Indigenous and nationalist claims to territory, often rely on reconstructions of the past based on the traditional identification of 'cultures' from archaeological remains. Sian Jones responds to the need for a reassessment of the ways in which social groups are identified in the archaeological record, with a comprehensive and critical synthesis of recent theories of ethnicity in the human sciences. In doing so, she argues for a fundamentally different view of ethnicity, as a complex dynamic form of identification, requiring radical changes in archaeological analysis and interpretation.

Race and Practice in Archaeological Interpretation

Race and Practice in Archaeological Interpretation
Author: Charles E. Orser, Jr.
Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press
Total Pages: 321
Release: 2013-04-19
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 0812203259

Scholars who investigate race—a label based upon real or perceived physical differences—realize that they face a formidable task. The concept has been contested and condoned, debated and denied throughout modern history. Presented with the full understanding of the complexity of the issue, Race and Practice in Archaeological Interpretation concentrates on the archaeological analysis of race and how race is determined in the archaeological record. Most archaeologists, even those dealing with recent history, have usually avoided the subject of race, yet Charles E. Orser, Jr., contends that its study and its implications are extremely important for the science of archaeology. Drawing upon his considerable experience as an archaeologist, and using a combination of practice theory as interpreted by Pierre Bourdieu and spatial theory as presented by Henri Lefebvre, Orser argues for an explicit archaeology of race and its interpretation. The author reviews past archaeological usages of race, including a case study from early nineteenth-century Ireland, and explores the way race was used to form ideas about the Mound Builders, the Celts, and Atlantis. He concludes with a proposal that historical archaeology—cast as modern-world archaeology—should take the lead in the archaeological analysis of race because its purview is the recent past, that period during which our conceptions of race developed.

New Philadelphia

New Philadelphia
Author: Paul A. Shackel
Publisher: Univ of California Press
Total Pages: 234
Release: 2011
Genre: Art
ISBN: 0520266293

"A groundbreaking study in which an engaged archaeology produces nuanced understandings of the past and shapes new understandings of the present. New Philadelphia promotes a rethinking of race relations between African and European Americans."—Claire Smith, President, World Archaeological Congress "Shackel shows in explicit detail how one community archaeology project—dealing with the delicate subject of race—is being put into practice in the American Midwest. This is required reading for archaeologists and historic preservation activists who confront bondage and freedom, and who wrestle with remembrance and representation in real time."—Charles Orser, author of Race and Practice in Archaeological Interpretation "New Philadelphia examines an historic struggle for social justice and the role for archaeology in anti-racist projects. Shackel's engaging narrative shifts among artifacts, landscapes, and documents to illuminate the lives of African Americans and European Americans in a 19th- and early 20th-century community. This is an important book for archaeologists, historians, and cultural heritage practitioners interested in recovering the past to address pressing issues of the present."—Robert Paynter, co-editor of Lines that Divide and co-director of archaeological research at the W.E.B. Du Bois Boyhood Homesite

Consumer Choice in Historical Archaeology

Consumer Choice in Historical Archaeology
Author: S.M. SpencerWood
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 423
Release: 2013-06-29
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1475798172

Historical archaeology has made great strides during the last two decades. Early archaeological reports were dominated by descriptions of features and artifacts, while research on artifacts was concentrated on studies of topology, technology, and chronology. Site reports from the 1960s and 1970s commonly expressed faith in the potential artifacts had for aiding in the identifying socioeconomic status differences and for understanding the relationships be tween the social classes in terms of their material culture. An emphasis was placed on the presence or absence of porcelain or teaware as an indication of social status. These were typical features in site reports written just a few years ago. During this same period, advances were being made in the study of food bone as archaeologists moved away from bone counts to minimal animal counts and then on to the costs of various cuts of meat. Within the last five years our ability to address questions of the rela tionship between material culture and socioeconomic status has greatly ex panded. The essays in this volume present efforts toward measuring expendi ture and consumption patterns represented by commonly recovered artifacts and food bone. These patterns of consumption are examined in conjunction with evidence from documentary sources that provide information on occupa tions, wealth levels, and ethnic affiliations of those that did the consuming. One of the refreshing aspects of these papers is that the authors are not afraid of documents, and their use of them is not limited to a role of confirmation.

Historical Archaeology

Historical Archaeology
Author: Charles E. Orser, Jr.
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 412
Release: 2016-08-05
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1317297075

This book provides a short, readable introduction to historical archaeology, which focuses on modern history in all its fascinating regional, cultural, and ethnic diversity. Accessibly covering key methods and concepts, including fundamental theories and principles, the history of the field, and basic definitions, Historical Archaeology also includes a practical look at career prospects for interested readers. Orser discusses central topics of archaeological research such as time and space, survey and excavation methods, and analytical techniques, encouraging readers to consider the possible meanings of artifacts. Drawing on the author’s extensive experience as an historical archaeologist, the book’s perspective ranges from the local to the global in order to demonstrate the real importance of this subject to our understanding of the world in which we live today. The third edition of this popular textbook has been significantly revised and expanded to reflect recent developments and discoveries in this exciting area of study. Each chapter includes updated case studies which demonstrate the research conducted by professional historical archaeologists. With its engaging approach to the subject, Historical Archaeology continues to be an ideal resource for readers who wish to be introduced to this rapidly expanding global field.

Challenging Colonial Narratives

Challenging Colonial Narratives
Author: Matthew A. Beaudoin
Publisher: University of Arizona Press
Total Pages: 177
Release: 2019-04-30
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 0816538085

Challenging Colonial Narratives demonstrates that the traditional colonial dichotomy may reflect an artifice of the colonial discourse rather than the lived reality of the past. Matthew A. Beaudoin makes a striking case that comparative research can unsettle many deeply held assumptions and offer a rapprochement of the conventional scholarly separation of colonial and historical archaeology. To create a conceptual bridge between disparate dialogues, Beaudoin examines multigenerational nineteenth-century Mohawk and settler sites in southern Ontario, Canada. He demonstrates that few obvious differences exist and calls for more nuanced interpretive frameworks. Using conventional categories, methodologies, and interpretative processes from Indigenous and settler archaeologies, Beaudoin encourages archaeologists and scholars to focus on the different or similar aspects among sites to better understand the nineteenth-century life of contemporaneous Indigenous and settler peoples. Beaudoin posits that the archaeological record represents people’s navigation through the social and political constraints of their time. Their actions, he maintains, were undertaken within the understood present, the remembered past, and perceived future possibilities. Deconstructing existing paradigms in colonial and postcolonial theories, Matthew A. Beaudoin establishes a new, dynamic discourse on identity formation and politics within the power relations created by colonization that will be useful to archaeologists in the academy as well as in cultural resource management.

Ethnic Ambiguity and the African Past

Ethnic Ambiguity and the African Past
Author: Francois G Richard
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 297
Release: 2016-07
Genre: History
ISBN: 1315429004

Authors engage with contemporary anthropological, historical and archaeological perspectives to examine how ideas of self-understanding, belonging, and difference in ancient Africa were made and unmade in their intersection with other salient domains of social experience: states, landscapes, discourses, memory, technology, politics, and power.

The Archaeology of Race and Class at Timbuctoo

The Archaeology of Race and Class at Timbuctoo
Author: Christopher P. Barton
Publisher: University Press of Florida
Total Pages: 129
Release: 2023-03-28
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 0813072913

Collaborative archaeology and the lasting character of a historic Black community The Archaeology of Race and Class at Timbuctoo is the first book to examine the historic Black community of Timbuctoo, New Jersey, which was founded in 1826 by formerly enslaved migrants from Maryland and served as a stop on the Underground Railroad. In collaboration with descendants and community members, Christopher Barton explores the intersectionality of life at Timbuctoo and the ways Black residents resisted the marginalizing structures of race and class. Despite some support from local Quaker abolitionists, the people of Timbuctoo endured strained relationships with neighboring white communities, clashes with slave catchers, and hostilities from the Ku Klux Klan. Through a multiscalar approach that ranges from landscape archaeology and settlement patterns to analysis of consumer artifacts, this book demonstrates how residents persevered to construct their own identities and navigate poverty. Barton incorporates oral histories from community elders that offer insights into the racial tensions of the early- to mid-twentieth century and convey the strong, lasting character of the community in the face of repression. Weaving together memories and inherited accounts, current archaeological investigations, historical records, and comparisons to nearby Black-established communities of the era, this book illuminates the everyday impacts of slavery and race relations in a part of the country that seemed to promise freedom and highlights the use of archaeology as a medium for social activism. Publication of this work made possible by a Sustaining the Humanities through the American Rescue Plan grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities.