Book reviews

Nationalisms and Sexualities. A. Parker, M. Russo, D. Sommer & P. Yaeger (Eds), 1992. New York, Routledge. 384 pp., £40.00 hardback, £12.99 paperback. ISBN 0–415–90432–3 hardback, 0–415–90433–1 paperback.

Sexuality and Space. B. Colomina (Ed.), 1992. New York, Princeton Papers on Architecture, Princeton University School of Architecture, Princeton Architectural Press. 389 pp., $14.95 paperback. ISBN 1–878271–08–3.

Racialized Boundaries: race, nation, gender, colour and class and the anti‐racist struggle. F. Anthias & N. Yuval‐Davis, 1992. London, Routledge. 226 pp., £40.00 hardback. ISBN 0–415–01813–7.

Refusing Holy Orders: women and fundamentalism in Britain. G. Sahgal & N. Yuval‐Davis (Eds), 1992. London, Virago. 244 pp., £8.99 paperback. ISBN 1–85381–219–6.

Different Places, Different Voices: gender and development in Africa, Asia and Latin America. J. H. Momsen & V. Kinnaird (Eds), 1993. London, Routledge. 322 pp., £40.00 hardback, £12.99 paperback. ISBN 0–415–07538–6 hardback, 0–415–07563–7 paperback.

Gender, Development and Identity: an Ethiopian study. H. Pankhurst, 1992. London, Zed Books. 216 pp., £29.95/549.95 hardback, £12.95/$19.95 paperback. ISBN 1–85649–157–9 hardback, 1–85649–158–7 paperback.

‘Viva’: women and popular protest in Latin America. S.R. Radcliffe & S. Westwood (Eds), 1993. London, Routledge. 270 pp., £40.00 hardback, £12.99 paperback. ISBN 0–415–07312‐X hardback, 0–415–07313–8 paperback.

Seeking Common Ground: multidisciplinary studies of immigrant women in the United States. D. Gabaccia (Ed.), 1992. Westport, CT, Praeger. 272 pp., $55 hardback, $17.95 paperback. ISBN 0–313–27483–5 hardback, 0–275–94387–9 paperback.

The Women Outside: meanings and myths of homelessness. S. Golden, 1992. Berkeley, CA, University of California Press. 319 pp., $25.00 hardback. ISBN 0–520–07158–1.

The Transformation of Intimacy: sexuality, love and eroticism in modern societies. A. Giddens, 1992. Cambridge, Polity Press. 212 pp., £19.50 hardback. ISBN 0–7456–1012–9.

Situating the Self: gender, community and postmodernism in contemporary ethics. S. Benhabib, 1992. Cambridge, Polity Press. 266 pp., £45.00 hardback, £11.98 paperback. ISBN 0–7456–0998–8 hardback, 0–7456–1059–5 paperback.

Made from this Earth: American women and nature. Vera Norwood, 1993. Chapel Hill, NC, University of North Carolina Press. 368 pp., $37.50 hardback, $17.95 paperback. ISBN 0–8070–2062–8 hardback.     

Can a preservationist ideology halt the process of creative destruction? Evidence from Salt Spring Island,British Columbia

For more than 50 years, rural municipalities across the developed world have struggled to redefine themselves in the face of declining primary sector employment. In some places, this struggle has led to the creation of landscapes that provide heritage‐seekers with tangible commodities and intangible experiences reflecting a by‐gone past. Recent research suggests that these post‐productivist heritage‐scapes may evolve into leisure‐scapes of mass consumption, if profit or economic growth are the key motives underlying development ( Mitchell and Vanderwerf 2010 ). This article questions whether a dominant ideology of preservation can prevent this scenario. We studied Salt Spring Island, British Columbia: (i) to determine if the island displays the characteristics of a heritage‐scape, (ii) to discover if a preservationist ideology has contributed to its current state, and (iii) to ponder if this state can be maintained, in light of recent regional and provincial discourse. Our analysis reveals that the creation, and maintenance, of this heritage‐scape has been guided largely by public discourse underlain by a preservationist ideology. This prolonged state, however, may be drawing to an end. Recent provincial directives to double tourist revenues suggest that local (and regional) discourse soon may be overshadowed by the province's mandate to promote economic growth. The response of local stakeholders will ultimately dictate the Island's ability to maintain its present state as a post‐productivist heritage‐scape.     

The Hidden Perils of Citation Counting for Australasian Political Science

In a recent article in Australian Journal of Political Science, Dale and Goldfinch present ‘standard’ journal-based publication and citation rankings of Australasian political science departments designed to complement what they characterise as the multidisciplinary, historical, qualitative and humanistic political science of the region. However, the ‘highly cited’ articles in their top-ranked political science department belong to quantitative psychology. Through unravelling why their study favours the opposite of that which it was meant to detect, this paper alerts political scientists to the hidden perils of accepting ‘standard’ Institute of Scientific Information-based approaches to citation counting as valid measures of research ‘quality’. It exposes the veiled bibliometric assumption that the ‘best’ social science is quantitative research, notes that incongruous citation scores may inform the distribution of block funding and departmental appointment processes, and warns against using ‘standard’ data to unintentionally self-police the future shape of Australasian political science.     

Visa Stories: Human Rights, Structural Violence and Ethical Globalisation

This essay frames a number of individual contributions on the subject of visa stories. The author considers the issues raised by these contributors in terms of human rights, structural violence and ethical globalisation. The contributions to this Forum sharply delineate the contrasting capacity of archaeologists from different countries to participate in international scholarly discussions. If we are to tackle the challenges of a more ethical globalisation, we need to integrate a human rights framework into our practices and policies, with a consequent emphasis on shared responsibilities.

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Resumen Este ensayo enmarca las diversas aportaciones individuales entorno a las historias sobre visados. La autora tiene en cuenta las cuestiones planteadas por estos autores en relación con los derechos humanos, la violencia estructural y la globalización ética. Las aportaciones a este Forum delinean con gran agudeza la capacidad contrastada de los arqueólogos de diversos países de participar en discusiones eruditas a escala internacional. Si debemos abordar los desafíos de una globalización más ética, es necesario que integremos un marco de derechos humanos en nuestras prácticas y nuestras políticas, con el consiguiente énfasis en las responsabilidades compartidas.

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Résumé Cet essai est pour synthétiser les contributions individuelles concernant les histoires d’obtention de visas. L’auteur considère les questions soulevées par ces histoires, en termes de droits humains, de violence structurée (injustices dans les procédures administratives), et de la globalisation de l’éthique. Les contributions à ce forum font ressortir clairement le contraste entre les capacités qui existent, selon le pays d’origine des archéologues, de participer à des rencontres académiques internationales. Si nous voulons relever le défit de développer une éthique plus globale, nous devons intégrer la conception des droits humains dans notre pratique et nos politiques, avec comme conséquence, une emphase sur le partage des responsabilités.

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Claire Smith is President of the World Archaeological Congress, and Associate Professor at Flinders University, Australia. Her recent books include ‘Indigenous Archaeologies: Decolonising Archaeological Theory and Method (co-edited with H.M. Wobst, Routledge, 2005) and ‘Digging it up Down Under. A Practical Guide to Doing Archaeology in Australia’ (co-authored by H. Burke, Springer, 2007).     

A first note on the excavations at UAQ38, a new Neolithic site in the Emirate of Umm al-Quwain

At the end of 2018, the first season of excavation was carried out at the shell midden site of UAQ38. The site occupies the top of a sand dune not far from UAQ36 and UAQ2, two other recently investigated Neolithic shell middens. Several well-stratified anthropogenic levels were excavated at UAQ38, which can be dated mainly to the 5th millennium BC, although the recorded artefacts suggest a possible older date for the lowest levels. Food waste, post-holes, fireplaces, and burnt shell dumpings attest to human activities that took place at the site over a rather long period of time. Here the stratigraphic sequence will be presented, together with a first overview of the artefactual assemblage. The collected data will be concisely discussed in order to fit the site within the typology of Neolithic settlements that can be proposed for the area. UAQ38 is so far the only Neolithic site along the northeastern coast of the UAE for which stratified charcoal is available for dating.     

‘[A]ll Sorts of Stiches’: Looking at Detail in a Proclamation of Solomon Embroidery

This object lesson considers a mid- to late seventeenth-century embroidery, now held by the Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford, which portrays the proclamation of Solomon. It assesses how viewers’ attention was directed by the application of materials, textures and stitches, examining tensions between modes of viewing concerned with narrative, individual motifs, material content, skill and realism. It considers how these various forms of attention would have complemented or competed with one another, and how they may have appealed to different viewers in different contexts.     

More substance on subsistence

Bernard Nietschmann. Between Land and Water. New York: Seminar Press, 1973. xiv + 279 pp. Illustrations, tables, appendixes, glossary, references, and index. $14.00.

James Ward, producer‐editor, and Brian Weiss, anthropologist‐photographer. The Turtle People. Los Angeles: B & C Films. Twenty‐six minutes. Color and sound. $310.00 (purchase price), $25.00 (rental fee).