Untaming the Frontier in Anthropology, Archaeology, and History

Untaming the Frontier in Anthropology, Archaeology, and History. Bradley J. Parker and Lars Rodseth, eds. Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 2005. 294 pp.     

The Anthropology in American Historical Archaeology

Since its infancy, American historical archaeology has maintained a relationship, albeit often a tenuous one, with its anthropological parentage. Given both the history of the field and its practitioners' often-tortured efforts to define their intentions, goals, and perspectives, it is not surprising, perhaps, that many anthropologists may not recognize the important contributions historical archaeology can make to the anthropological project. A multifaceted and wide-ranging examination of the post-Columbian world gives historical archaeology a special ability to investigate modern history and to provide insights into the historical circumstances of today's world, [historical archaeology, post-Columbian archaeology, history of American archaeology]     

Archaeology, Anthropology and Cult: The Sanctuary at Gilat, Israel

Archaeology, Anthropology and Cult: The Sanctuary at Gilat, Israel . Thomas E. Levy, ed. Oakville, CT: Equinox Publishing, 2006. 875 pp.     

Anthropology, Kleinian Psychoanalysis, and the Subject in Culture

This essay uses the work of psychoanalyst Melanie Klein to reopen the dialogue between anthropology and psychoanalysis. It argues that Kleinian concepts enhance an anthropology that seeks out both intersubjective and intrasubjective difference and disjuncture, and it demonstrates the uses of major Kleinian concepts for addressing classic anthropological problems, including gender classification and the analysis of persecution in witchcraft and sorcery systems. Applying Kleinian concepts to the analysis of cultural-historical process, it shows how splitting and denial may be central to the reproduction and hegemony of dominant cultural systems through time and addresses the question of how to theorize the relationship among dominant cultural systems, social differentiation, and individual subjectivities.     

Archaeology and Physical Anthropology: Means to the Same End*

Abstract

Both archaeology and physical anthropology have often suffered from the same malaise. Techniques have been confused with goals and emphasis has be·en placed upon theaccumulation of data rather than upon an understanding of human behavior.     

Race and the Culture of Anthropology

The number of panels on "multiculturalism" and "cultural studies" at the AAA's annual meetings has increased significantly. Many anthropologists believe that the discipline has been in the vanguard of debates on racism and multiculturalism, that it stands for precisely those issues raised in the "culture wars": the equal valuation of all cultures. Yet this is not the case.
Multiculturalism and cultural studies have emerged as counterdisciplinary formations which radically foreground race and racial identity precisely because anthropology cannot do so.     

The Archaeology of Childhood: Children, Gender, and Material Culture

The Archaeology of Childhood: Children, Gender, and Material Culture. Jane Eva Baxter. Walnut Creek, CA: AltaMira Press, 2005. 142 pp.     

Anthropology at the Edge: Essays on Culture, Symbol, and Consciousness

Anthropology at the Edge: Essays on Culture, Symbol, and Consciousness. J. Ian Prattis. Lanham, MD: University Press of America, 1997. 311 pp.     

Studying Knowledge, Culture, and Behavior in Applied Medical Anthropology

In this article we argue that the concept of knowledge, as utilized by public health professionals, is best regarded as cultural belief as defined in anthropology. The implications of this position are explored, particularly as it relates to the development of a decision-making approach to the understanding and analysis of health care behavior. The methodological challenges posed by the new theoretical perspective that has emerged from the emphasis on decision making is discussed from the perspective of applied research. The role of focused ethnographic studies is examined and contrasted with ethnomedicine and survey approaches. Some main features of focused ethnographic methods are described and illustrated with a case example of acute respiratory infection (ARI) in Gambia. [knowledge and cultural beliefs, decision-making approaches, health behavior, focused ethnographic studies]     

Rethinking Power and Culture in Anthropology

Who Can Compete against the World? Power-Protection and Buddhism in Shan Woridview. Nicola Tannenbaum. Ann Arbor, MI: Association of Asian Studies, 1995.228 pp.
State Power and Culture in Thailand. E. Paul Durrenberger. ed. Yale Southeast Asia Studies Monograph, 44. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1996. 200 pp.     

Studies in Culture Contact: Interaction, Culture Change, and Archaeology Occasional Paper No. 25

Studies in Culture Contact: Interaction, Culture Change, and Archaeology, Occasional Paper No. 25. James G. Cusick. Carbondale. IL: Center for Archaeological Investigations. Southern Illinois University, 1998. 502 pp.     

The Anthropology of Economy: Community, Market, and Culture.

The Anthropology of Economy: Community, Market, and Culture. Stephen Gudeman. Williston, VT: Blackwell Publishers, 2001.189 pp.     

The Status of the Race Concept in Physical Anthropology

There are hereditary differences among human beings. Some of these differences have geographical correlates. Some genetic variants that produce physical or behavioral deficits occur significantly more often in some areas, or in some ethnic groups, than in others. However, none of these facts provides any intellectual support for the race concept, for racial classifications, or for social hierarchies based on ethnic-group membership.
The geographical element of the race concept is important in theory but is widely ignored in practice since it does not conform well to the facts of current human phenotype distribution. Much of the literature on supposed racial differences involves such geographically meaningless exercises as studying differences among races by subdividing a sample of North Americans. If races are defined as geographically delimited conspecific populations characterized by distinctive regional phenotypes, then human races do not exist now and have not existed for centuries,