Showing papers in "Historical Archaeology in 2008"
TL;DR: An empirically and politically rigorous African diasporan archaeology would be significantly extended by diaspora scholarship's vindicationist and reflective antiracist perspectives as mentioned in this paper, and such an archaeology could disrupt essentialist categories and outline concrete foundations for diasPORan identity without lapsing into either particularism or hyperconstructivism.
Abstract: Over more than a century, African diasporan scholars have defined identity in complex forms that aspire to resist racial essentialism yet stake consequential political claims to collective roots. Historical archaeology has painted a rich picture of the material details of African American life that also refutes black essentialism; however, archaeologists have crafted many utterly fluid African diasporan identities that sometimes fail to examine the global connections, antiracist citizen rights, and concrete cultural heritage long examined by diasporan scholars. An empirically and politically rigorous African diasporan archaeology would be significantly extended by diasporan scholarship’s vindicationist and reflective antiracist perspectives. such an archaeology could disrupt essentialist categories and outline concrete foundations for diasporan identity without lapsing into either particularism or hyperconstructivism.
53 citations
TL;DR: A transnational framework is instrumental in facilitating an understanding of the ways in which Overseas Chinese communities and identities formed through global economic, political, and cultural networks as mentioned in this paper, and it is especially important that this research be grounded in a solid understanding of history of the Chinese diaspora.
Abstract: As historical archaeologists increase their involvement in studies of Overseas Chinese communities, it is especially important that this research be grounded in a solid understanding of the history of the Chinese diaspora. A transnational framework is instrumental in facilitating an understanding of the ways in which Overseas Chinese communities and identities formed through global economic, political, and cultural networks. The archaeology of Overseas Chinese communities currently faces many challenges, including underpublication, a tendency towards descriptive rather than research-oriented studies, and orientalism. These difficulties are being surmounted through collaborative research programs that foster dialogue between archaeologists and Chinese heritage organizations, as well as through interdisciplinary exchanges that are forging new connections among historical archaeology and Asian American studies and Asian studies.
45 citations
TL;DR: A contextual, multiscalar approach to research on this residential community highlights other forms of social collectivity, such as district associations and business consortiums, that were able to act meaningfully to promote community survival and well-being as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: At the Market Street Chinatown in San Jose, California, residential arrangements were profoundly shaped by institutionalized racism, anti-Chinese violence, labor practices, and immigration policies. These, in turn, shaped the form and content of the archaeological record. As is typical of many Overseas Chinese sites, archaeological features cannot be associated with specific households—in fact, the “household” concept is not always pertinent. A contextual, multiscalar approach to research on this residential community highlights other forms of social collectivity, such as district associations and business consortiums, that were able to act meaningfully to promote community survival and well-being. The archaeology of Overseas Chinese communities has a significant contribution to make to archaeological method and theory by opening new pathways of inquiry into the “middle scale” between the individual or household and the world system.
38 citations
TL;DR: In this article, it is argued that there is a correlation between the shift from commercially prepared medicines to doctor-prescribed medicines and degrees of alienation of the Irish and Irish Americans in relation to mainstream society, and the medicinal bottle data used in this research were recovered from two privies in the rear courtyards of two tenements at the Five Points, Manhattan and from two single-family houses from the Dublin section, Paterson, New Jersey (ca. 1880-1910).
Abstract: Irish immigrants to the United States formed a large part of America’s poor from the mid-19th to the first decades of the 20th century. Considered the devious “foreign other,” they were exploited both in the workplace and in the landscape of U.S. cities. Irish immigrants formed communities in the relegated and marginalized spaces they were given and lived in cramped tenements that were fraught with unsanitary conditions. As a consequence of such environmental conditions, several epidemics occurred throughout the 19th century. Outbreaks emanating from these communities and spreading to other city neighborhoods caused panic amongst the U.S.-born citizens and in turn provided the fodder for stereotypes and moral judgments about the character of the Irish. Medicinal bottles recovered archaeologically from Irish and Irish-American deposits are physical manifestations of that social history of exploitation. It is argued here that there is a correlation between the shift from commercially prepared medicines to doctor-prescribed medicines and degrees of alienation of the Irish and Irish Americans in relation to mainstream society. the medicinal bottle data used in this research were recovered from two privies in the rear courtyards of two tenements at the Five Points, Manhattan (ca. 1850–1870) and from two single-family houses from the Dublin section, Paterson, New Jersey (ca. 1880–1910).
37 citations
TL;DR: The authors examined the material dimensions of Chinese identity and found that Chinese material distinctions reflect complicated accommodations along class, gender, and color lines that structured life for the Overseas Chinese in America.
Abstract: This volume examines the material dimensions of Chinese identity. This scholarship complicates the connection between commodities and identity, while it simultaneously destabilizes those very identities. The question of how material distinctions shape social experience is at the heart of contemporary identity archaeologies, and the Overseas Chinese archaeologies in this collection illuminate the challenge of how to position distinctive collectives in relation to a broader American “mainstream.” The most interesting Overseas Chinese archaeologies paint a picture that rejects easy divisions between assimilation and resistance and probe how Chinese material distinctions reflect complicated accommodations along class, gender, and color lines that structured life for the Overseas Chinese.
24 citations
TL;DR: A framework for the archaeological investigation of masculinities at Overseas Chinese communities is developed in this article, which is used to describe how material culture from the Market Street Chinatown in San Jose, California, was interpolated in multiple hegemonic discourses of masculinity.
Abstract: Most Overseas Chinese living in the United States during the 19th century were men Correspondingly, the archaeology of Overseas Chinese communities in the United States is primarily the archaeology of Chinese men: their behaviors, dispositions, activities, and identities Despite this acknowledged focus, masculinity is rarely an explicit object of study in Overseas Chinese archaeology Drawing from methods and theories in archaeology, cultural anthropology, history, and Asian American studies, a framework for the archaeological investigation of masculinities at Overseas Chinese communities is developed This framework is used to describe how material culture from the Market Street Chinatown in San Jose, California, was interpolated in multiple hegemonic discourses of masculinity
23 citations
TL;DR: Personal adornment artifacts are the physical remains of the ways people inscribed the body as reflective of their alignment with individual and group identities and the performances of identity that were enacted through mundane daily acts and gestures in the past as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: Items of personal adornment are an important class of material culture with great potential for understanding constructions of identity in the historical period. Archaeologically recoverable remains of dress—clothing and clothing fasteners, jewelry, hair accessories, and miscellaneous accessories—are included in this category of material culture. Performative aspects of identity construction, the presentation of a person as an individual and as a member of a socially defined group, and the centrality of the body in perception and self-perception are a means for examining the construction of identity along gender, class, age, and ethnicity lines. Personal adornment artifacts are the physical remains of the ways people inscribed the body as reflective of their alignment with individual and group identities and the performances of identity that were enacted through mundane daily acts and gestures in the past. Artifacts recovered at the Sherburne site in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, manifest these identities.
22 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the concepts behind Iberian ship design can be articulated as well as compared and contrasted to other European shipbuilding traditions through careful mining of the documentary and archaeological evidence.
Abstract: Defining 15th- and 16th-century Iberian shipbuilding traditions related to European expansion overseas is a difficult task. Scarce documentary evidence and the systematic destruction of Spanish and Portuguese shipwrecks by those with a purely monetary agenda make the task even more complex. In spite of these obstacles, data suggests that a distinctive shipbuilding tradition existed on the Iberian Peninsula. Through careful mining of the documentary and archaeological evidence, the concepts behind Iberian ship design can be articulated as well as compared and contrasted to other European shipbuilding traditions.
22 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, a closer look reveals that many people living on Kentucky's antebellum farmsteads struggled regularly for food security and that the idealized version of a shared Upland South foodway was restricted to the wealthy planter class that had ready access to the market economy.
Abstract: Regional cuisines or foodways have been a topic of interest to both historians and archaeologists for at least the past 30 years. scholars recognize a regional foodway in the antebellum Upland South that is part of the larger “Upland South” cultural tradition. The agricultural and archaeological data on subsistence in the antebellum Upland South have been woven into an idealized set of subsistence practices that revolved around agricultural practices. The examination of four contemporaneous faunal assemblages representative of different societal classes living in 19th-century Kentucky shows that this generalized version of Upland South food-ways does not hold true across economic classes. Instead, a closer look reveals that many people living on Kentucky’s antebellum farmsteads struggled regularly for food security and that the idealized version of a shared “Upland South foodway” was restricted to the wealthy planter class that had ready access to the market economy.
21 citations
TL;DR: A survey of grave markers of the Chinese worker cemetery associated with Pāhala Plantation has revealed the ways in which these markers were used to negotiate the eventual formation of the local culture in present day Hawai’i as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: From the late-19th to the early-20th centuries, immigrant laborers from a wide range of countries were brought to Hawai’i by white plantation owners who were in need of a large and inexpensive labor force. Initially hired as indentured servants and segregated by ethnic group in plantation contexts, these workers continued to maintain strong ethnic/national identities, even after settling in Hawai’i. In contemporary Hawai’i, identities that developed in the plantation context have combined with the Hawaiian culture of aloha and diversity to form a distinctive “local” culture, in which ethnic identity and local birth are simultaneously prized. A survey of grave markers of the Chinese worker cemetery associated with Pāhala Plantation has revealed the ways in which these markers were used to negotiate the eventual formation of the “local” culture in present day Hawai’i.
21 citations
TL;DR: This article found that the residents of these two neighborhoods were quite different from each other in a number of ways, and that the groups represent different socioeconomic classes, which runs counter to the views of many commentators and scholars who talk about the African American community.
Abstract: African Americans in antebellum New York City followed several different residence strategies in the face of ongoing discrimination. Most lived in enclaves, dispersed throughout poorer neighborhoods that were by no means primarily black. One such enclave was Little Africa. Some lived separately in places like Seneca Village, an African American community just outside of town. This study compares the residents of these two neighborhoods and suggests that the members of these groups were quite different from each other in a number of ways. Aggregation of these differences suggests that the groups represent different socioeconomic classes. This finding runs counter to the views of many commentators and scholars (including archaeologists) who talk about the “African American community,” implying that the African American population formed (and forms) a homogeneous whole.
TL;DR: In this paper, a case in which I agree with critical elements but not with all of the lines or implications of his argument is presented, and I will focus on what I see as flaws in Mullins's formulation.
Abstract: In responding to Paul Mullins's essay, "Exca vating America's Metaphor: Race, Diaspora, and Vindicationist Archaeologies," I am confronted by a case in which I agree with critical elements but not with all of the lines or implications of his argument. Mullins's article presents a strong case highlighting the problems that archaeolo gists have had in translating their findings in analyses that are meaningful to contemporary descendant communities or that make strong statements regarding the underlying conditions of slavery and subjugation. Mullins stresses the importance of using archaeological contexts to illuminate racist conditions and counter racial ized ideologies. I am sympathetic to Mullins's objective and much of his assessment regarding problems encountered and contributions made. In my response, however, I will focus on what I see as flaws in Mullins's formulation. These
TL;DR: In 2000 and again in 2005, archaeological investigations were conducted at the Parvin Homestead, in Berks County, Pennsylvania, reputed by local oral tradition to be an Underground Railroad safe house as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: Archaeological evidence of the Underground Railroad is difficult to identify and interpret, as the archaeological signature of sites relating to the Underground Railroad is defined by the clandestine and transient nature of the movement of fugitives. Archaeologists’ understanding of the material legacy of the Underground Railroad is further clouded by legends identifying houses of local luminaries as Underground Railroad sites, often with minimal corroborating evidence. In 2000 and again in 2005, archaeological investigations were conducted at the Parvin Homestead, in Berks County, Pennsylvania, reputed by local oral tradition to be an Underground Railroad safe house. The current owners contend that 19th-century occupants harbored African Americans escaping from slavery and that a network of tunnels used for this purpose crisscross the property. Historical research and archaeological excavations were conducted to determine whether tunnels existed on the property and whether any other material legacy of the Underground Railroad could be identified.
TL;DR: In this article, the adaptations of Chinese immigrants employed at a small farm in the California Mother Lode region where they lived and worked in more ethnically mixed settings are investigated, and a ledger left at the site in 1857 by a Chinese cook enhances those interpretations.
Abstract: Most archaeological studies of Chinese immigrants have focused on enclaves in cities, towns, villages, and work camps where insular tendencies are expected. This article focuses instead on the adaptations of Chinese immigrants employed at a small farm in the California Mother Lode region where they lived and worked in more ethnically mixed settings. Investigations at CA-AMA-364/H provide insights into adjustments made by the Chinese immigrants between 1851 and the turn of the century. Examination of a ledger left at the site in 1857 by a Chinese cook enhances those interpretations.
TL;DR: In this article, a study of railroad workers in a working-class neighborhood in West Oakland, California is presented, examining the ways skilled craft unionists used the assumptions of Victorian ideology to organize against both their employers and other groups of workers, especially immigrants.
Abstract: Within the railroad industry, the most powerful labor unions were exclusive craft organizations that concentrated on defending the privileges of a few skilled workers. Data from archaeological work conducted by Sonoma State University during the Cypress Freeway Replacement Project is used in an historical materialist exploration of class-consciousness among railroad workers in a late-19th-century working-class neighborhood in West Oakland, California. Comparing aspects of diet and dining, this study focuses on divisions among the railroad workers along the lines of craft-skill and nativity, examining the ways skilled craft unionists used the assumptions of Victorian ideology to organize against both their employers and other groups of workers, especially immigrants.
TL;DR: For about a century, very small groups of Chinese or solitary individuals exploited maritime resources on the central California coast, depending on the preferred habitat of the particular natural resource being sought and the optimum economic distance from the nearest competitor.
Abstract: For about a century, very small groups of Chinese or solitary individuals exploited maritime resources on the central California coast. The locations were isolated, depending on the preferred habitat of the particular natural resource being sought and the optimum economic distance from the nearest competitor. The seaweed-gathering enterprise of Wong How persisted virtually unchanged until 1975, and his dwelling still stands. Architectural analysis reveals vernacular construction based on salvaged materials, innovation in response to problem solving, traditional custom, and expansion by accretion. Archival data flesh out the portrait of an individual and his family on both sides of the Pacific. The small, uncontrolled collection recovered by others could be misleading if the high proportion of Chinese items is interpreted to imply less accommodation to the Western world than really occurred. Wong How lived in isolation; pursued a traditional industry; read, ate, and drank within Chinese traditions; and yet participated in broad mercantile, financial, and legal networks to the extent that served his needs.
TL;DR: In the latter half of the 19th century, a strong anti-Chinese sentiment influenced U.S politics and newspapers as discussed by the authors, and Chinese immigrants responded to these actions by organizing and individual efforts.
Abstract: In the latter half of the 19th century, a strong anti-Chinese sentiment influenced U.S politics and newspapers. Driven by a number of factors, the anti-Chinese movement expressed itself against Chinese immigrants through legislation, organized boycotts, hostile news stories, violence, and general harassment. In many modern accounts, these Chinese immigrants are portrayed as passive victims who did not respond to the actions carried out against them. Contrary to this view, archaeological data has prompted a reassessment of contemporary historical accounts. Together, these sources indicate an aggressive campaign by Chinese immigrants to counter these activities. Through organized and individual efforts, Chinese immigrants fought back in the legislature, the courts, their homes, places of business, and on the streets.
TL;DR: In 2001, field excavations were completed at the site of the San Bernardino, California, Chinatown, yielding about 10,000 items, dating from about 1880 to the 1930s as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: In 2001, field excavations were completed at the site of the San Bernardino, California, Chinatown, yielding about 10,000 items. Twenty-one discrete features were excavated, dating from about 1880 to the 1930s. Seventeen of these features reflected the history of Chinatown. Privy 1035, associated with a gambling hall at 19 Third Street, contained more than 6,800 individual items, representing diverse aspects of Chinatown life. Gambling activities in the early-20th century were represented by an abundance of artifacts, including a cache of more than 1,300 Asian coins, the largest ever found on an excavation in North America. Discussions of gambling artifacts and culture document the practice of this traditional, but often sensationalized, pastime of the Overseas Chinese.
TL;DR: An overview of the history and development of historical archaeology in South America from its beginnings to the present is presented here, covering the origins, theoretical frameworks, and subjects of investigation as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: An overview of the history and development of historical archaeology in South America from its beginnings to the present is presented here, covering the origins, theoretical frameworks, and subjects of investigation. Historical archaeology in South America has experienced an accelerated growth since the mid-1980s. Taking these circumstances into account, some of the most outstanding projects headed by South American archaeologists during the last decades are analyzed.
TL;DR: In this article, a broad methodological approach is used to reveal the pattern of 17th-century metal production in the colony and to expand scholarly understanding about this significant part of Spanish colonization on the far northern frontier.
Abstract: Histories of the early colonial period of the remote New Mexican colony (A.D. 1540–1680) are framed in terms of pueblo conversion, conflicts between church and state, and accommodation-resistance between the pueblos and the colonizers. Missing from these histories are detailed discussions of mining and metal production, even though it is widely recognized that spaniards came north looking for metal beginning with Coronado’s entrada in A.D. 1540. Accumulating archaeological evidence is beginning to change historical understanding of this neglected part of colonization history. In north-central New Mexico, San Marcos Pueblo is a microcosm of early colonial mining activity in the colony. To elucidate the San Marcos story, relevant histories, geology, archaeology, and materials are used. This broad methodological approach helps reveal the pattern of 17th-century metal production in the colony. The results are important for building knowledge about metal production in the New Mexico colony and for expanding scholarly understanding about this significant part of Spanish colonization on the far northern frontier.
TL;DR: For example, the Deadwood Chinatown Project as discussed by the authors has documented the Chinese experience in Deadwood, South Dakota, including burned structural remnants, architectural remains, privies, refuse pits, and dumping episodes.
Abstract: Four years of excavations and research on the Chinatown Project has begun to chronicle the Chinese experience in Deadwood, South Dakota. Major features encountered include burned structural remnants, architectural remains, privies, refuse pits, and dumping episodes. A unique pit feature suggests evidence of a possible ceremonial disposal of personal possessions. Archaeological evidence collected from buried remains of a ceremonial burner built by the Chinese in 1908 suggests Deadwood’s Chinese community used this structure for mortuary rituals until some time in the 1920s. Asian ceramic vessels are similar in shapes and designs to those found at other Overseas Chinese sites, as are glass bottle assemblages, opium smoking paraphernalia, coins, gaming items, and clothing. Through a combination of historical research and archaeological excavations, Deadwood’s Chinatown offers an understanding of a significant contribution to early life in a small western town, rich with a society comprising various ethnic populations.
TL;DR: The stable carbon and nitrogen isotope ratios of human bone collagen have been used to determine the diet of a sample of United States soldiers who died during the siege of Fort Erie in the War of 1812 as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: The stable carbon and nitrogen isotope ratios of human bone collagen have been used to determine the diet of a sample of United States soldiers who died during the siege of Fort Erie in the War of 1812. controls were enacted during the analysis to discriminate between well-preserved and contaminated bone. results from a sample of 15 individuals, recruited from diverse regions of the northeastern United States, indicate that the diet of this population was quite varied. Statistical analysis was used to explore the relationship between diet and skeletal pathologies. There were no significant differences in means between the individuals exhibiting skeletal pathologies and those not exhibiting skeletal pathologies, suggesting the pathologies are more likely tied to the physical hardships endured in these men’s civilian or military lives as opposed to their civilian or military diets.
TL;DR: Corner stores were the most common consumer outlet in the urban Midwest from the mid-19th century until World War II as mentioned in this paper, and they were a popular consumer outlet for African Americans, European immigrants, and white Hoosiers.
Abstract: Corner stores were the most common consumer outlet in the urban Midwest from the mid-19th century until World War II. In the early-20th century in Indianapolis, Indiana, the near westside was dotted with more than 100 modest stores managed by African Americans, European immigrants, and white Hoosiers. Archaeological excavation of a ca. 1889–1969 store illuminates the widespread entrepreneurial ambition of urban newcomers, the increasing ethnic insularity of corner stores between 1900 and 1920, and the eventual decline of corner stores in the face of urban renewal and the arrival of chain stores in the 1930s.
TL;DR: In this article, historical maps, documents, and photographs have been combined with archaeological data to confirm the location of the cochise-Howard Treaty Camp in the Dragoon Mountains of southern Arizona.
Abstract: Historical maps, documents, and photographs have been combined with archaeological data to confirm the location of the cochise-Howard treaty camp. Brigadier General Oliver Otis Howard, his escorts Lieutenant Joseph Alton sladen and Thomas Jonathan Jeffords, and the chiricahua Apache chief cochise met in the foothills of the Dragoon Mountains of southern Arizona in October 1872 to negotiate the surrender and relocation of this “most troublesome Apache group” (Bailey 1999:17). Warfare between the Apache and the Americans had been ongoing for more than a decade. This meeting culminated in a peace treaty between Cochise’s Chokonen band and the United States government. Photographs of unique boulder formations confirm the treaty-negotiation location, and written landscape descriptions provide further verification. Wickiup rings, other feature types, and artifacts provide archaeological confirmation regarding the nature and spatial layout of the camp and clarify the vagaries of the historical record.
TL;DR: A recent archaeological survey within the urban corridor between Las Cruces, New Mexico, and El Paso, Texas, is a particular illustration of both the challenges and rewards of urban archaeology as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: Urban archaeology is a challenging endeavor. Defining urban archaeology is not straightforward. Doing urban archaeology is difficult for various intellectual and practical reasons. Theories employed by urban archaeologists are multifarious and must be as sophisticated and complex as the urban entities in which investigation proceeds. Despite these challenges (or perhaps because of them), urban archaeology is unquestionably a very rewarding and necessary undertaking. Contributions made by urban archaeologists over the past 15 years demonstrate this fact. A recent archaeological survey within the urban corridor between Las Cruces, New Mexico, and El Paso, Texas, is a particular illustration of both the challenges and rewards of urban archaeology.
TL;DR: This article examined the material record of three home lots in one of this community's neighborhoods as changes in transportation infrastructure altered the physical and cultural landscape over time, altering social relations of class and ethnicity.
Abstract: Lawrenceburg was a dynamic community in southern Indiana during the 19th century. Via the Ohio River and Whitewater Canal, this planned urban center was poised to take advantage of emerging financial opportunities related to commercial activities. As the canal failed, Lawrenceburg was unable to compete with larger metropolitan centers like nearby Cincinnati. This paper examines the material record of three home lots in one of this community’s neighborhoods as changes in transportation infrastructure altered the physical and cultural landscape over time. This once-vibrant urban neighborhood evolved into a marginal residential enclave, altering social relations of class and ethnicity.
TL;DR: In the mid-1990s, SHA published a series of bibliographies that documented archaeological references concerning the immigrant experience in North America as discussed by the authors, and the focus of this bibliography is the archaeo logical and architectural record of Overseas Chinese immigrants and communities.
Abstract: In the mid-1990s, SHA published a series of bibliographies that documented archaeological references concerning the immigrant experience in North America. This bibliography is intended to be an extension of that series. It is inevitable that any bibliographic effort involving an active area of research will be out of date immediately. For that reason, in addition to this published version, the authors will periodically update the information and publish it on SHA's website. The focus of this bibliography is the archaeo logical and architectural record of Overseas Chinese immigrants and communities. It includes published and unpublished reports of investiga tions of archaeology and architecture. While the vast majority of the references included here deal with sites in the western United States and Australia, similar investigations of Chinese mate rial history have been included, regardless of geographical location. The authors have gathered copies of all references listed here, and placed them in the California Department of Parks and Recreation, Archaeology, History, and Museums Division library in West Sacramento, Califor nia. The purpose of this archive was to verify all citations; there may be additional related references, but unless authors have provided a corresponding hard copy, the reference is not included here. Authors who know of additional related materials are encouraged to forward those hard copies to Peter Schulz. In the interest of maintaining specific focus for this bibliography, it does not include obvi ously relevant studies from China nor strictly historical investigations of the overseas com munities. The bibliography also does not include references to the China Trade, even though some investigations deal with Gold Rush era discover ies in California. Likewise, the references omit studies of material culture, ceramic production, and architecture from southeastern China. Read
TL;DR: In this paper, archeological excavations conducted in the Chinese section of Portland's Lone Fir Cemetery provide a rare opportunity to study the materials associated with the late-19th- and early-20th-century funerary practices of an urban Chinese American community.
Abstract: Archaeological excavations conducted in the Chinese section of Portland’s Lone Fir Cemetery provide a rare opportunity to study the materials associated with the late-19th- and early-20th-century funerary practices of an urban Chinese American community. In conjunction with documentary evidence, the materials show that Portland’s Chinese immigrants and their descendants preserved traditional Chinese customs and selectively incorporated European and American elements into funeral rituals as they actively forged transnational identities as Chinese Americans.
TL;DR: In this article, the Public Policy Research Center at the University of Missouri-St. Louis and the City of St. Louis collaborated with the Old North St Louis community to assist it in attaining economic growth, social stability, and a cultural identity through archaeological research and interpretation.
Abstract: Since the 1950s, the Old North St. Louis neighborhood in St. Louis, Missouri, has suffered population loss and disinvestment due to failed urban renewal initiatives, the construction of a new interstate highway that bisected the community, and suburbanization. Under the auspices of a U.S. Housing and Urban Development Community Outreach Partnership Center grant, the Public Policy Research Center at the University of Missouri-St. Louis partnered with the Old North St. Louis community to assist it in attaining economic growth, social stability, and a cultural identity through archaeological research and interpretation. Building off existing historic preservation initiatives, this partnership employed “true acts of inclusion” in developing with the community the major goals and the “questions that count.” Archaeological work in conjunction with oral histories and archival research was used to strengthen the sense of community through development of K-12 educational programming, a local neighborhood museum, a video documentary, a published history, a website, and an historic bike trail. These products provided the tools to attract new residents, investors, and visitors to the neighborhood and served as cultural glue, connecting people to place. The project advances the concept of public archaeology by demonstrating how research and interpretation can be aligned with specific urban revitalization goals.