Lessons from Ethnic Studies

Abstract

Abstract This chapter argues for interdisciplinary collaboration between historical archaeology and Asian American Studies/Ethnic Studies, and it articulates a Chinese American historical archaeology. Both fields stand to benefit from collaboration, with the potential for contributions to archaeological work in the Chinese diaspora more broadly. Ethnic Studies brings to historical archaeology a more nuanced understanding about race, specifically with regard to theories of racialization and racial triangulation, as well as decades of experience doing politically conscious, community-engaged, anti-racist work. Historical archaeology provides Ethnic Studies with a framework for studying material culture, something that Ethnic Studies scholars have yet to study in depth, in conjunction with oral histories and the documentary record. Furthermore, interdisciplinary collaboration has the potential for reorienting Ethnic Studies towards researching community social histories. The chapter argues for continued interdisciplinary collaboration to promote historical archaeologies of Chinese Americans and of Asian Americans more broadly.