The urban landscape for many represents the next frontier of Archaeological exploration. Scholarship concerned with perceptions of abandonment, ruin and decay in our cities and towns has exploded in recent years and Archeology has been one of the disciplines at the forefront of the campaign to investigate and classify these so-called 'badlands of modernity'. Through this paper I seek to continue research into the Rock Point Amusement Park RI. Focusing on the abandonment and post-abandonment phases of its history I will explore the politics of this term 'abandonment' within the framework of archaeological theory on habitation and usage patterns.
Preliminary Reading List:
Harris, S., Deborah Berke, Architecture of the Everyday (1997)
Hetherington, K., The Badlands of Modernity (1997)
Mayne, A., Tim Murray, The Archaeology of Urban Landscapes: Explorations in Slumland (2001)
Tacitia, D., Jeremy Millar, Place (2005)
Rebecca Yamin and Karen Bescherer Metheny, Landscape archaeology : reading and interpreting the American historical landscape (2006)
Goldsack, Bob A century of fun : a pictorial history of New England amusement parks (1993)
Online Resources:
http://livestreamingcams.blogspot.com/2006/08/rocky-point-amusement-park-looking.html
http://www.warwickri.gov/nandi/rockypoint.htm
http://www.joenisil.com/rockypoint/index.htm
Posted at Apr 16/2008 03:49PM:
omur: Hi Ashley.
Focusing on abandonment is a great idea. Keffie wrote a paper on abandonment last year. I am sure she would be happy to share bibliography. Margaret Nelson has an article "Abandonment: conceptualization, representation and social change" in Social Theory in Archaeology volume edited by Schiffer. I am sure that will help setting up the conceptual basis. There is also the volume Abandonment of Settlements and Regions: Ethnoarchaeological and Archaeological Approaches by Catherine M. Cameron, Steve A. Tomka, though not sure how relevant. Probably more salient is Landscapes of Abandonment: Capitalism, Modernity, and Estrangement By Roger A. Salerno. Fascinatingly, there the author argues that abandonment is something that is central to modernity.
ARCH 1800 Final Paper_Ashley Greene.doc