Bonnie J. Clark

When the Foreign is not Exotic: Ceramics at Colorado’s WWII Japanese Internment Camp

During World War II, the United States government interned approximately 120,000 Japanese and Japanese Americans in relocation camps. Archaeological survey at Amache, Colorado, reveals that in this time and place where Japanese identity was under siege, Japanese ceramics were very common. Their presence is all the more notable given the limitations on personal goods internees were allowed to bring to camp, financial strain, and the severing of trade relations with Japan. This chapter presents recent research about the camp as a way to examine a situation where imported goods were perhaps the least “foreign” element of a people’s way of life.

Finding Common Ground in Common Places

As exemplified by James Deetz’ use of Henry Glassie’s ideas, there has long been a theoretical cross-fertilization between vernacular architecture studies and historical archaeology. This chapter presents a case study in which that cross-fertilization extended beyond theory to practice in the field. The project, a joint historical archaeology and vernacular architecture study, focused on the cultural landscape of southeastern Colorado, a fertile ground for both types of investigation. In this chapter the authors discuss significant theoretical foundations common to both disciplines, and suggest ways practitioners can benefit from one another’s innovations and expertise.

From Graduate to Professor: Changing Perspectives on Field Schools

What is the role of the field school in the education of graduate students and in the early professional life of professors? Derived from the experience of new tenure-track professors, this chapter attempts to answer this question. Key themes discussed include how graduate students learn to run a field school and the gaps in their education, the importance of the field school for junior faculty, and the place of the field school in larger disciplinary practices. What emerges is a picture of the field school as a repeated “rite of passage,” one that would benefit the discipline more with thoughtful engagement at both an instrumental and an epistemological level.