Books published by Left Coast Press Inc

Social scientific studies of medicine typically assume that systems of medical knowledge are uniform and consistent. This volume considers the theoretical, methodological, and ethnographic implications of the fact that medical knowledge is frequently dynamic, incoherent, and contradictory, and that our understanding of it is incomplete.

Social scientists have used the term "Creolization" to evoke cultural fusion and the emergence of new cultures across the globe. However, the term tends to be used as a simple synonym for "mixture" or "hybridity." This book gives the term theoretical specificity by examining the different domains and circumstances in which the process takes place.

Emphasizes the interdisciplinary temporal and geographic comparative research of Archaeology, Anthropology, History and Linguistics to allow us to form different perspectives on broader trends in the transformation and (re-) emergence of African Diaspora cultures.

One of the major works of twentieth-century anthropological theory, this title allows the anthropologists access to Leslie White's crucial contribution to the theory of cultural evolution.

Women in academia have struggled for centuries to establish levels of acceptance and credibility equal to men in the same fields, and anthropology is not different. This book speaks about their challenges and successes as they navigated through their personal and professional lives, riding the changing tides of social and disciplinary history.

Offers tales of the strange habits of archaeologists, and describes the local in-fighting. This title explains how scientists can be protected from the Yatirs, spirits of the dead who guard the mound. It recounts the daily experience of one man in a contemporary Turkish village, including changing economic strategies for supporting his family.

Includes essays that look back at some of the important events where a role for an archaeology concerned with the past first emerged and look forward to the practical and theoretical issues central to a socially engaged discipline and shaping its future.

Asks critical questions about historic preservation and commemoration methods used by modern societies and their impact on the perception and identity of the people they supposedly remember, who are generally not consulted in the commemoration process.

Examines a neglected period in the history of Egyptology, from the Moslem annexation of Egypt in the 7th century CE until the Ottoman conquest in the 16th century. This book is aimed at academics and students of archaeology, Islamic studies and Egyptology, as well as anyone with a general interest in Egyptian history.

Provides a framework for understanding and studying social and ecological systems. This book, featuring contributors from a wide spectrum of disciplines, including archaeology, anthropology, geography, ecology, palaeo-science, geology, sociology, and history, presents and assesses both the evolution of our thinking and research.

Anyone in the cultural resource management world will tell you that much of the job is successfully negotiating consensus on a course of action between various stakeholders. This title offers the heritage management community the benefit of decades of thinking on negotiation where it is practiced daily - the business world.

Features articles from the 2008 International Congress on Qualitative Inquiry. This book demonstrates the potential of the research tradition to make contributions to the betterment of humankind. It highlights the importance of advocating for social justice.

Presents research and practice to show how history museums offer a point of entry to the past by empowering children to connect to history through exhibitions. This title covers educational theory and developmental frameworks, how audience and evaluation inform research and development, and the role of experience in delivering content.

The Coach Fellas are known to almost all tourists who traverse the Irish countryside. This ethnography of critical but unrecognized producers of Irish heritage tourism demonstrates their importance in providing a visitor-specific vision of heritage that contrasts with the realities of contemporary economic development.

Archaeology is a way of acting and thinking - about what is left of the past, about temporality of humans and their material lives, about the processes of order and entropy, and about processes of creating, consuming and discarding at the heart of human experience. This title offers a window on this imaginative world of past and present.

The use of mixed methods designs for conducting research has become a major trend in social science research. Renowned methodological experts Janice Morse and Linda Niehaus present a guide to intermediate and experienced researchers on the possibilities inherent in mixed method research.

A long overdue advancement in ceramic studies, this volume sheds new light on the adoption and dispersal of pottery by non-agricultural societies of prehistoric Eurasia. Major contributions from Western Europe, Eastern Europe and Asia make this a truly international work that brings together different theories and material for the first time.

Fearsome Legacies unites innovative work on the interpretation and management of Cold War heritage from fields including archaeology, history, art and architecture, and cultural studies.

Represents an innovative experiment in presenting the results of a large-scale, multidisciplinary archaeological project. This work is a major synthesis of the Bronze Age settlements and ritual sites of the Moor, contextualized within the Bronze Ages of southwestern and central Britain, and a tracing of the changing meaning of this landscape.

Drawing upon a career in studying museum visitors, renowned researcher John Falk attempts to create a predictive model of visitor experience, one that can help museum professionals better meet those visitors' needs.

Governmental guidelines have forced a dramatic change in the practice of archaeological surveying. This book provides an introduction to students, field novices, and land managers on the strategies, methods, and logic of contemporary survey work. It is useful for an archaeological methods class, field school, or reference collection.

In the classroom, knowledge is widely distributed among the students and teacher, but is difficult to share across linguistic and cultural barriers. Seeking paths across these barriers, this title explores the question: What is the discourse frame in which students and teachers work?

A primary characteristic of landscape archeology is the diversity of its regional traditions, which reveals a range of methods and field locations. This volume demonstrates how landscape archeologies can be used to highlight material situations and the alternative political standpoints from which archaeologists work in the contemporary world.

How do we identify and measure human disease in the past? This title outlines the key methods of epidemiology for non-specialists, showing the importance of studying prevalence over incidence, adjustments needed in studying past groups, how to compare studies, and the dangers of assessing occupation based upon bone evidence.

Presents a collection of articles, drawn from various works being done within a contemporary framework on women in archaeology. One section addresses the historical and contemporary roles of women in the discipline. The other attempts to link contemporary archaeological theory and practice to work on women and gender in other fields.

Presents a critique of the underlying foundational concepts and values behind the Alexandria Library. This title draws upon an array of thinkers such as Freud, Derrida, Said, and Bernal, among others. It is intended for museologists, historians, archaeologists, cultural scholars, and heritage professionals.

Drawing out the author's formulations of social organization, cultural evolution, and the relationship between technology, ecology, and culture, this theoretical work traces a vast expanse of history from the earliest forms of capitalism to the inner workings of contemporary democratic institutions.

Helps readers understand the impact that archaeological sites, museums and the constructed past have on tourists' view of their own culture, how it legitimizes class inequality at home as well as on the island of Crete, both Minoan and modern.