7 Home(less) Place and Home-Making at the Albany Bulb

Abstract

Archaeological research of dismantled homes at the Albany Bulb in the San Francisco Bay, California, prompted me to rethink the category of “homelessness” and the temporal boundaries of archaeological research. This paper treats the history of people who called this landfill-turned-park home as part of broad processes of redevelopment and displacement in the Bay Area and beyond. Archaeological and artistic research provide a critical methodology through which I reflect on contemporary struggles for homeless rights and conflicts over who needs to be “cleaned up.”