Books published by AltaMira Press

With its updated analysis and treatments of key topics, this new edition is a must-have for archaeologists and students, historic preservationists, tribal governments, and others working with cultural resources.

Contested Images offers a collection of 17 essays that analyze the representations in popular culture of African American, Asian American, Latina, and Native American women.No other anthology offers this wide spectrum of ethnicities.

Presents a study of prehistoric religion in Prehispanic Southwest. Drawing on an array of empirical approaches, this book shows the importance of understanding beliefs and ritual for a range of time periods and southwestern societies. It is useful for professional and avocational archaeologists, and for religion scholars and students.

Offers parents, educators, social workers, and those interested in multiracial issues with a framework for understanding healthy mixed-race identity development and to translate those findings into practical care-giving strategies.

This definitive, detail-packed biography is the first of Frederick Starr (1856-1933), a founding father of American anthropology at the University of Chicago. It presents a major reevaluation of StarrΓÇÖs place as the missionizer of anthropology, illuminates the consequences of the professionalization of anthropology, and yields a greater understanding of the United States as it moved into a position of global power. Donald McVicker considers Frederick StarrΓÇÖs colorful life in the context of the times. In many respects StarrΓÇÖs early career paralleled that of Franz Boas, ΓÇ£the architect of American anthropology.ΓÇ¥ Nonetheless, as Boas led professional anthropology into the twentieth century in the United States, Starr, the popularizer, increasingly fell behind. Today, if Starr is remembered at all, he is usually described in terms of his intellectual, professional, and ethical failings. Yet his collections, publications, and photographic and paper archives provide a rich set of resources for archaeologists, ethnologists, folklorists, and historians. McVicker argues that StarrΓÇÖs mission to bring anthropology to the public and enlighten them was as valid a goal during his career as was BoasΓÇÖs goal to professionalize the field.

Earth Resistance for Archaeologists, written by the foremost expert in the field, provides archaeologists with the know-how required to exploit the significant potential of earth resistance and gain archaeological insights from intelligently interpreted data.

In this book, experts in the field explore the 'new' city museum, examining the role of the city museum in urban development, the problems posed in dealing with contemporary history, and the impact of intangible heritage on the work of city museums.

A virtual Who's Who of Native American scholars, activists, and community leaders reflect on the problems and achievements of Native American peoples over the last several decades.

Gathers together Du Bois' writings on religion. This title includes selections from Bois' works such as "The Souls of Black Folks" to poems, prayers, stories and speeches. It traces Du Bois' move from church-attending Christian to relentless critic of religion and evaluates Du Bois' contributions to the study of religion.

Recent immigrants are creating their own unique religious communities within existing denominations or developing hybrid identities that combine strands of several faiths or traditions. Covering groups from across the US and a range of religious traditions, this work provides an overview to this subfield.

Collection of articles on recent excavations and studies of one of the best known Maya archaeological sites

First Nations people know that a tribe must have control over its resources and sustain its identity as a distinct civilization for economic development to make sense. This book offers conceptual and practical tools for making self-determination and self-sufficency a reality for native Americans.

Offers a comprehensive guide to visual anthropology and the use of film in ethnographic research. This title shows how visual media is an accepted part of anthropological methodology, a vital tool that produces knowledge about the range of cultures and about culture itself. It is useful for ethnographic research.

Offers an interpretation of the role of women in traditional patrilineal societies. This title reveals that many of the critical features of patrilyny were in fact invented by women. It is suitable for researchers in anthropological kinship and theory, gender studies, and African studies.

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Lawrence Kuznar makes a compelling case that it is even more important today, a decade after the publication of the first edition of Reclaiming a Scientific Anthropology, for anthropology to return to its roots in empirical science.

Reflects the complexity and diversity of Native American cultural life. This book offers experiences and perspectives from various Native settings.

This study shows how efforts to curb the wanton slaughter of whales has impacted most severely on the Inuit subsistence hunters, whilst completely failing to stop the industrialized slaughter of whales "for research".

This volume brings together writers from a variety of disciplines to explore and illustrate the possibilities of new narrative forms in social research. The book is arranged into four areas of concern: representation, subjectivity, critique, and postmodern discourse.

This text presents Marvin Harris' view on the nature of culture, and offers a materialist perspective on contemporary issues including the IQ question and the fall of communism.

This text looks at how women were described, and prescribed to act, by men during the Tudor-Stuart period in England. Suzanne Hull elucidates what the rules were for women, and discusses health habits, food and theories on conception.

Features the assumptions and conclusions of leading figures in comparative civilizational studies and world systems analysis. This book presents an introduction to thinking about global historical change.

Whether Christian churches, Jewish synagogues, Islamic mosques, Buddhist temples, or the gathering places for other faiths, buildings designed for worship are significant to both their own community of believers and their larger communities. Coming to understand the history of places of worship, therefore, is an essential element in understanding the historical fabric of these communities. Places of Worship offers the abundant insights of an experienced historian of American religion. Using illustrations from a wide diversity of congregations, Wind suggests ways in which answers may be sought. In two enlightening appendices, he also provides guidance to important published works on American religion and a directory of denominational archives and historical agencies. But perhaps his greatest contribution is to emphasize the necessity of viewing any religious community as a dynamic, evolving social organism. The author not only offers a comprehensive rationale for including political and secular influences from each era covered by the religious group's history, he also explains to the reader the most effective use of these resources. Because of its fresh perspective, this volume will prove invaluable to anyone exploring the history of American places of worship. Places of Worship is Volume 4 in The Nearby History Series.

By weaving together a life-histories approach to ethnography and with a concept of culture, the author presents an intimate and complex picture of Opportunity House, a highly functional community of mentally-retarded adults.

This volume explores the ways in which economies deal with severe crises: how vulnerability is economically constructed, how production and trade practices adapt to new situations, and how political economic objectives play out in recovery efforts.

In Economics and Morality, the authors seek to illuminate the multiple kinds of analyses relating morality and economic behavior in particular kinds of economic systems.

Planning Successful Museum Building Projects provides comprehensive, practical guidance on planning, financing, implementing, managing, and evaluating all kinds of museum construction projects.

Against the Grain gathers scholars from across disciplines to explore the work of ecological anthropologist Andrew P. Vayda and the future of the study of human ecology.