An Archaeology of Asian Transnationalism

“Building an innovative methodology that emphasizes diasporic, rather than ethnic, identity, this book provides a model for the archaeology of material culture in pluralistic societies. An essential reference for the archaeology of labor and immigration.”—Barbara Voss, coeditor of The Archaeology of Colonialism

“A dynamic narrative blending historical and material data to interpret the complex topics and social relations of diasporic identity formation, transnationalism, and alienation. Well thought out and an important contribution to social archaeology and issues of social justice.”—Stephen A. Brighton, University of Maryland


In the early twentieth century, an industrial salmon cannery thrived along the Fraser River in British Columbia. Chinese factory workers lived in an adjoining bunkhouse, and Japanese fishermen lived with their families in a nearby camp. Today the complex is mostly gone and the site overgrown with vegetation, but artifacts from these immigrant communities remain, waiting below the surface.

In this groundbreaking comparative archaeological study of Asian immigrants in North America, Douglas Ross excavates the Ewen Cannery to explore how its immigrant workers formed new cultural identities in the face of dramatic displacement. Ross demonstrates how some homeland practices persisted while others changed in response to new contextual factors, reflecting the complexity of migrant experiences. Instead of treating ethnicity as a bounded, stable category, Ross shows that ethnic identity is shaped and transformed as cultural traditions from home and host societies come together in the context of local choices, structural constraints, and consumer society.