Charting a New Course for Chinese Diaspora Archaeology in North America

Abstract

This chapter provides a brief history of the field of Chinese diaspora archaeology in North America, from its beginning in the 1960s to its present state, and it places this work within the context of 19th-century Chinese migration throughout the Pacific world. Although the body of work produced by archaeologists of the Chinese diaspora has provided tremendous insights into the daily lives of 19th-century Chinese migrants, it has been hampered by a continued reliance on models of continuity and change that frequently ignore the transnational lives of Chinese migrants. This has made Chinese diaspora archaeology slow to impact broader archaeological and anthropological discussions, and this chapter argues that embracing transnational and diasporic models will allow archaeologists of the Chinese diaspora to make important contributions outside of the field.