The Future of Japanese Diaspora Archaeology in the United States
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The Future of Japanese Diaspora Archaeology in the United States Stacey L. Camp 1 Accepted: 21 September 2020/ # Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2020
Abstract The emergence of the archaeology of the Japanese diaspora in the United States as a discrete area of investigation over the past 15 years presents a timely intervention into how xenophobia has contoured the lives of migrants. It is not merely an area of study detached from contemporary politics, but rather a subfield that is forcing archaeologists to engage with the public in novel ways. This work requires scholarly collaboration that puts the interest of descendant communities at the forefront of academic investigation. This work also involves managing archaeological data in a systematic fashion and making data accessible online. Key words Incarceration . Digital archaeology . Japanese diaspora
Introduction The emergence of the archaeology of the Japanese diaspora in the United States as a discrete area of archaeological investigation over the past 15 years presents a timely and necessary investigation into how xenophobia - historically and in contemporary times has contoured the lives of migrants and people of color in the United States. It is not merely an area of study detached from contemporary rhetoric and politics in the United States, but rather a subfield that is forcing archaeology to be relevant and engaged with the public in novel, community-driven ways. Some of the most compelling collaborative work done on and with Japanese Americans thus far has rewritten archaeological praxis, seeing it as a mode of engagement and an opportunity for professional reflexivity rather than a means to an end (such as archaeological interpretation and analysis) or as a tool to address purely academic questions.
* Stacey L. Camp [email protected]
1
Department of Anthropology, Michigan State University, 655 Auditorium Drive, East Lansing, MI 48824, USA
International Journal of Historical Archaeology
Engagement with stakeholder and descendant communities associated with the Japanese diaspora has resulted in critical contributions to the field of public and community archaeology; collaboration has also helped important legislation to pass in order to protect American historic sites associated with the Japanese diaspora. For example, the United States Congress has set aside up to $38 million in annual appropriations for research on and the interpretation and preservation of Japanese American incarceration sites on National Park Service (NPS) land. Archaeologists must take note of the agendas defined by stakeholder communities by considering how we might align our archaeological research questions, field methodologies, and cataloging procedures with community interests. This is especially important for archaeologists working on sites that lack active descendant communities who can assist in defining research questions. What scholars do in these formative days of research on the archaeology of the Japanese diaspora in the United States
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