Howdy folks,
I am a PhD candidate in Archaeology at Simon Fraser University, and would
like to organize a session for the 2008 Society for American Archaeology
conference in Vancouver. The focus of the symposium is on Chinese and
Japanese immigrants in western North America, although I would be willing to
entertain submissions from people working on other minority immigrant groups
whose work might touch on similar issues as outlined in the abstract
(below). Please pass this message on to others, be they professionals or
students, who might be interested in a session like this. Furthermore, if
anyone is planning on organizing any other historical archaeology sessions
for the SAAs, please let me know, and perhaps we can collaborate. Thank you
kindly,
Doug Ross
PhD Candiate, Department of Archaeology
Simon Fraser University
Burnaby, BC
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Proposed Symposium
Society for American Archaeology 2008 Annual Meeting, Vancouver, BC
Session Organizer: Doug Ross, PhD Candidate, Department of Archaeology,
Simon Fraser University
Organizer Contact: [log in to unmask]
Session Title: Highlighting Context and Diversity in the Immigrant
Experience
Archaeological studies of minority immigrant groups in western North
America, particularly Chinese and Japanese, have traditionally focused on
issues of acculturation and ethnic boundary maintenance, and emphasized the
broad similarities in assemblages over space and time. While this research
has laid an important foundation for our understanding of agency and
identity, accumulated data from Overseas Chinese and Japanese sites is
beginning to reveal considerable diversity in material strategies of
adaptation. Some of these data challenge the notion of a simple maintenance
of traditional cultural identity. The papers in this symposium will explore
such diversity in three ways: first, by expanding the range of
archaeological questions asked about the lives of recent immigrants beyond
issues of acculturation; second, by highlighting how unique local
circumstances (i.e. group demographics, rural vs. urban, racism, etc.)
produced equally unique strategies for adapting to new socio-cultural
environments; and third, by comparing the lives of these immigrant groups
with each other and with their Anglo-American neighbors. By avoiding
viewing immigrant groups as homogeneous interpretive units with a monolithic
traditional culture, and paying close attention to the particulars of local
context, archaeologists can produce a more nuanced picture of the broader
processes of capitalism and globalization.
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