Table Of ContentBLURRING TIMESCAPES, SUBVERTING ERASURE
Blurring Timescapes,
Subverting Erasure
Remembering Ghosts
on the Margins of History
7
Edited by
Sarah Surface-Evans, A. E. Garrison,
and Kisha Supernant
berghahn
N E W Y O R K • O X F O R D
www.berghahnbooks.com
First published in 2020 by
Berghahn Books
www.berghahnbooks.com
© 2020 Sarah Surface-Evans, A. E. Garrison, Kisha Supernant
All rights reserved. Except for the quotation of short passages
for the purposes of criticism and review, no part of this book
may be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or
mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information
storage and retrieval system now known or to be invented,
without written permission of the publisher.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Surface-Evans, Sarah L., editor. | Garrison, A. E., editor. | Supernant, Kisha,
editor.
Title: Blurring timescapes, subverting erasure : remembering ghosts on the margins of
history / edited by Sarah Surface-Evans, A. E. Garrison, Kisha Supernant.
Other titles: Remembering ghosts on the margins of history
Description: First edition. | New York : Berghahn Books, [2020] | Includes
bibliographical references and index.
Identifi ers: LCCN 2020006126 (print) | LCCN 2020006127 (ebook) |
ISBN 9781789207101 (hardback) | ISBN 9781789207118 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: History—Philosophy. | History—Psychological aspects. |
Ghosts—Psychological aspects. | Absence (Philosophy) | Archaeology and history.
| Social archaeology. | Antiquities—Psychological aspects. | Material culture—
Psychological aspects. | Collective memory.
Classifi cation: LCC D16.9 .B498 2020 (print) | LCC D16.9 (ebook) |
DDC 901/.9—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020006126
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN 978-1-78920-710-1 hardback
ISBN 978-1-78920-711-8 ebook
7
Contents
List of Illustrations, Figures, and Tables vii
Acknowledgments x
Introduction 1
Sarah Surface-Evans, A. E. Garrison, and Kisha Supernant
Part I. Imagining Timescapes:
Invoking Haunting, Memory, and Nostalgia
Chapter 1. Telling Ghost Stories: Communicating across Timescapes
and between Worldviews 13
April M. Beisaw
Chapter 2. Material Memories: Interpreting Souvenirs and Heirlooms
in the Archaeological Record 20
Erica Begun
Chapter 3. Journeys through Space and Time: Materiality,
Social Memory, and Community at the City of David 33
Heather M. Van Wormer
Part II. Confronting Lingering Specters
Chapter 4. Recognizing Ghosts and Haunting in the Rural Midwest:
Finding Community, Identity, and Wisdom in the Past 61
P. M. W. Lawton
Chapter 5. Th e Unwilling Student and the Ghost of Physical
Anthropology: Public Perceptions of the Ethics of Physical
Anthropology 72
Nicole M. Burt
❖
vi Contents
Chapter 6. From Haunted to Haunting: Métis Ghosts in the Past
and Present 85
Kisha Supernant
Part III. Identifying Ghosts within the Capitalist Landscapes
of Late Modernity
Chapter 7. Rain on the Scarecrow, Blood on the Plow: Haunting,
Trauma, and the Cruelty of the Agrarian Dream 105
Lilian Brislen
Chapter 8. Boneyard Quiet: A Ghost Story 120
A. E. Garrison
Chapter 9. Traumascapes: Progress and the Erasure of the Past 149
Sarah Surface-Evans
Chapter 10. Brickwork, Capitalism, Collective Memory, and
the Commons 171
Brigitte H. Bechtold
Epilogue. Ghosts, Haunting, and Refusals to Erasure 185
Kisha Supernant, April M. Beisaw, A. E. Garrison, and Sarah Surface-Evans
Index 196
7
Illustrations, Figures, and Tables
Illustrations
1.1. Screen capture of silent fi lm “1940 Hudson Valley Dig,” showing
Mary Butler Lewis driving to her 1940 Hudson Valley archaeology
survey site from the Blodgett building at Vassar College, where the
author now conducts similar work. Source: https://archive.org/details/
upenn-f16-0444_1940_Hudson_Valley_Dig. 16
1.2. A small portion of Vassar College’s expansive Main Building by
full moonlight. Th e windows of the author’s third-fl oor apartment are
visible at the far right, above the lamppost. Th e college president’s offi ce
is just below, on the second fl oor. Photo by the author. 17
2.1. Marine shell (possibly Pleuroploca sp.) from Burial 34. Photo by
the author. 27
2.2. Amethyst pendant from Burial 36 at Structure 19. Photo by
the author. 27
2.3. Polished blackware jar from Structure 19. Photo by the author. 28
2.4. Patzcuaro-style fi gurines found at Structure 19. Photo by the
author. 28
3.1. Garden marker. Photo by the author. 35
3.2. Shiloh gardens and Mary’s mausoleum. Photo by the author. 35
3.3. Jerusalem and Bethlehem, with Benjamin Purnell (in white
hat) front and center. Courtesy of Communal Societies Collection,
Hamilton College, Clinton, NY. 43
3.4. Shiloh at the House of David. Photo by the author. 44
3.5. Mary’s auditorium. Photo by the author. 46
❖
viii Illustrations, Figures, and Tables
3.6. New Shiloh headquarters, Mary’s City of David. Photo by
the author. 47
3.7. Laundry and garage. Photo by the author. 48
3.8. Two diff erent brick materials. Photo by the author. 48
3.9. Aerial view of Mary’s City of David, 1936. Courtesy of
Communal Societies Collection, Hamilton College. 49
3.10. Advertisement for Jewish resorters. Courtesy of Communal
Societies Collection, Hamilton College. 51
3.11. Mary’s Vegetarian Restaurant. Photo by the author. 52
5.1. Activity table located in the main gallery area at the Cleveland
Museum of Natural History. Note that it is a plastic teaching skull.
Photo by the author. 77
6.1. Author’s great-great-grandparents, Marie Flora Gauthier and
Alexis Supernant. Photograph provided by Cliff Supernault. 96
9.1a to 9.1c. Aspects of gentrifi cation (construction, demolition,
and rebranding) I pass by regularly while walking and running in
my neighborhood. Photos by the author. 151
9.2a to 9.2d. Photos of an old building, taken while on a walk
with my son; and the demolition of the same building. Photos by
the author. 155
9.3a and 9.3b. Th e Scott Garden and Jenison House. Photos by
the author. 159
9.4a and 9.4b. Th e substation and walls during construction. Note
the “three stacks” motif in Illustration 9.4b, with the actual stacks in
the background. Th e blank panels on either side of the “three stacks”
sculpture are meant for artist-commissioned murals. Photos by
the author. 163
10.1. Factory on East Carson Street, South Pittsburgh, 8 April 2018.
Photo by the author. 175
10.2. Terraced (row) houses on Havelock Street in Kettering,
England, 25 November 2018. Photo by the author. 177
10.3. Restored passage in St. Pancras International, London, April
2018. Photo by the author. 179
❖
Illustrations, Figures, and Tables ix
10.4. Th e last of a set of row houses on S 5th and Cabot Way.
South Pittsburgh, April 2018. Photo by the author. 180
10.5. Bricks becoming pebbles and sand on the south shore of the
Firth of Forth, Scotland, June 2018. Photo by the author. 182
Figures
2.1. Map of Mesoamerica showing locations of key regions
discussed, including the Patzcuaro Basin and Teotihuacan. Map by the
author (Begun 2013). 23
3.1. Map of Mary’s City of David. Map by the author. 50
5.1. Flowchart illustrating the relationship between the starting
category of the visitor and the resulting type of conversation. Figure
by the author. 79
6.1. Map showing Métis homeland and known Métis wintering sites.
Map by the author. 89
6.2. Métis archaeological sites in Canada. Map by the author. 92
6.3. Artifact count from Cabin 3 at Buff alo Lake Métis wintering site,
showing a high number of personal objects, 99 percent of which
are beads. Figure by the author. 94
9.1. Map of neighborhoods near Scott Garden. Map by the author. 160
Table
5.1. Explanation of the categories of museum adult learners. Table
by the author. 78
7
Acknowledgments
Th e authors wish to acknowledge all those ghosts and specters that have made
themselves felt and seen.
