{"title":"Constructing Identity in Seneca Village","authors":"D. Wall, N. Rothschild, Meredith B. Linn","doi":"10.5744/florida/9780813056197.003.0008","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5744/florida/9780813056197.003.0008","url":null,"abstract":"This chapter explores the issue of identity in Seneca Village, a nineteenth-century, middle-class, black community located in what is now Central Park in New York City. The city evicted the residents in 1857, and until recently this important village was forgotten. Using information from historical documents and material culture (including landscaping and both the form and decoration of dishes) excavated from the site in 2011, this study examines the intersection of class, race, and nationality. The evidence suggests that the identity of at least one family there was made of many strands: they may have identified themselves as members of the black middle class, as Americans, as African Americans, and perhaps even as Africans, depending on the situation and the audience. Skillful use of these strands may have been one way in which this and other village families attempted to ameliorate oppression and to make a place for themselves.","PeriodicalId":375940,"journal":{"name":"Archaeology of Identity and Dissonance","volume":"80 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-02-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"114811669","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"“Sacred to the Memory of Washington”","authors":"D. George","doi":"10.5744/florida/9780813056197.003.0012","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5744/florida/9780813056197.003.0012","url":null,"abstract":"This chapter begins with the exceptionalism that pervades American discourse in the twenty-first century. Proceeding from the unsettled place produced by present-day extremes of nationalism, the author traces the roots of American exceptionalism to the post-Revolutionary period and to the efforts of the upper classes to form a national identity that would unify a fragmented country while maintaining their social position. Two ceramic items from an elite merchant household—a British transferprint plate commemorating the death of Washington and a Chinese porcelain saucer displaying an American-style eagle—are the subjects of this microscalar analysis of national identity production in New York City’s South Street Seaport after the war.","PeriodicalId":375940,"journal":{"name":"Archaeology of Identity and Dissonance","volume":"40 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-02-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"122758445","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}