Promotions - Choice's Outstanding Academic Titles 2022 -

In this provocative monograph, Barrett (emer., University of Sheffield, UK) presents a radical alternative to what he sees as the primary error of archaeology today: the twin assumptions that an ultimate reality underlies human behavior and that archaeologists can discover that reality by examining material remains. After a brief introduction, he continues by analyzing various approaches to archaeological explanation, exploring the nature of the archaeological record and exposing several weaknesses in the various strands of 20th-century archaeology. He then constructs his alternative by outlining new perspectives on the evolution of ecosystems, investigating how human populations come into being and, finally, presenting his ideas on how differing forms of humanness have been constructed by various historical populations in response to the worlds they encountered, using the Neolithic period in Europe as an example. The study of such processes, Barrett argues, will make archaeology truly relevant. An epilogue summarizing his argument concludes the text, followed by a comprehensive bibliography and useful index. This thought-provoking, well-written book will be of great interest to both students and faculty.Summing Up: Highly recommended. Advanced undergraduates through faculty.

This is an astonishing book. In an ethnography of just a little over 200 pages, Weaver (Kansas State Univ.) details how the contemporary storying of dogs and people has been implicated in and shaped by expressions and imaginings of race, class, gender, and sexuality, by turns powerful, subtle, and insidious. Bracketed by an introduction and conclusion commencing with a field note--the first brief, factual, and breathtakingly fraught; the second fictional, aspirational, and achingly within reach--the intervening four chapters explore what Weaver so aptly terms "interspecies intersectionality": the conjunctions and makings of self, other, species, and breed that enmesh human and non-human animals. The insights and implications of contemporary social theory, especially queer theory, are accessible, resonant, and concrete throughout the events and experiences the author describes. This excellent volume is admirably suitable for advanced undergraduate and graduate courses across a host of disciplines and interdisciplinary inquiry.Summing Up: Essential. Advanced undergraduates through faculty.

This book addresses issues of sovereignty in the Russian Federation by comparing the three Eastern Siberian republics with the largest indigenous populations. In the wake of the Soviet Union's dissolution in 1991, the titular nationalities of Sakha (Yakutia), Tyva (Tuva), and Buryatia acquired unprecedented opportunities for home rule, only to witness them inexorably recede under Vladimir Putin. Balzer (Georgetown Univ.) synthesizes decades of personal connections and research experience in this uniquely insightful account of "nested sovereignty" in an increasingly centralized Russian state. Profiles of the three featured republics offer a poignant description of the careful balancing act required for activists, environmentalists, and local elected officials who support their homelands in the face of eroding freedom. The aspirations, tactics, and fates of politicians and average citizens are brought into clear focus as they navigate potential futures and nostalgically imagined pasts. Without this nuanced, timely portrayal, the fate of Siberia's peoples might remain largely invisible to outside observers. This excellent study provides a much-needed view of history unfolding across this vast region for historians, political scientists, and scholars interested in Siberia's native peoples.Summing Up: Highly recommended. General readers through faculty; professionals.

Sterelny (philosophy, Australian National Univ., Australia), who works at the intersection of philosophy and natural science, has produced another excellent book on hominin evolution. The basis of his evolutionary argument rests on culture and cooperation. He views human evolution not as hinging on a single key innovation but as emerging from a positive feedback loop caused by smaller divergences from other great apes, including bipedal locomotion, better causal and social reasoning, reproductive cooperation, and changes in diet and foraging style. The feedback mechanism is termed niche construction, which is the process through which organisms modify their own niches as well as those of other organisms through their activities. Niche construction theory places emphasis on the capacity of organisms not only to modify their niches but also to modify natural selection and hence act as codirectors of their own evolution and that of other organisms. Sterelny does an excellent job of highlighting the feedback mechanisms that worked to shape human evolution. The book is clearly written, which means it will appeal to a broad audience, and the references are excellent. This reviewer gives Sterelny's book the highest endorsement.Summing Up: Highly recommended. General readers through faculty; professionals.