Books by Maxine Sheets-Johnstone

Reprint of the ed. published by University of Wisconsin Press, Madison, 1966.

Focusing on conceptual origins, this book shows that there is a bond between hominid thinking and hominid evolution, a bond cemented by the living body. This thesis is illustrated in eight paleoanthropological case studies ranging from tool-using/tool-making to counting, sexuality, representation, language, death, and cave art.

The purpose of The Corporeal Turn is to document in a single text the impressive array of investigations possible with respect to the body and bodily life, and to show that, whatever the specific topic being examined, it is a matter of fathoming and elucidating complex and subtle structures of animate meaning. The corporeal turn is envisioned as an ever-expanding, continuous, and open-ended spiral of inquiry in which deeper and deeper understandings are forged, understandings that in each instance themselves call out for deeper and deeper inquiries. The first thirteen essays have already been published as distinct articles. The two new essays constituting the final two chapters are testimony to this open-ended spiral of inquiry.