Manzanar was one of ten sites used as an incarceration center for the forced removal of Japanese Americans during World War II. Manzanar is located in between Independence and Lone Pine, California and was in operation from 1942-1945. Archaeological surveys and excavations were conducted in 1993 by National Park Service archaeologists. This case study uses ceramic artifacts recovered from these excavations at Manzanar to study ceramic consumption patterns by Japanese Americans. The period of focus for this study is 1942-1945. Ceramics have been used successfully by archaeologists to explore the political, social, economic, and personal lives of individuals within a community. This thesis uses a transnational framework to expand on previous archaeological studies to explore how political, social, and economic relationships affected the consumption of ceramics by Japanese Americans.
Glossary of TermsEuropean ceramics: European is meant in the contemporary geographical sense of the word, and includes British and German ceramics Executive Order 9066: The Executive Order signed by Franklin D. Roosevelt which authorized the Secretary of War to create of military zones which could exclude or keep in any persons.This Order was used to create military zones along the West Coast and remove Japanese Americans from their homes.Incarceration: this term is used in favor of terms such as "relocation" and "evacuation", which imply benevolence reasons for the removal of Japanese Americans, and "internment", which often refers to prisoners of war and "enemy aliens". This term acknowledges the euphemistic language of the time and the removal of American citizens who did nothing wrong.Issei: first generation Japanese who immigrated to the United States Japanese American: for the context of this topic, where incarceration camps held Americans of Japanese descent and Japanese immigrants who were prevented by U.S. policies from becoming citizens, Japanese American refers to people in the United States of Japanese descent regardless of citizenship Nisei:second generation Japanese Americans, children of Issei and American citizens at birth Nikkei: immigrant of Japanese descent that lives outside Japan, but is not specific to generation nor the country of residence War Relocation Authority (WRA): a civilian organization created by Franklin D. Roosevelt to decide where Japanese Americans would live after being forcibly removed from their homes, and would continue to have power of the incarcerated Japanese American population throughout the war via incarceration camps. vi