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Reviewed by:
  • Rethinking Anthropological Perspectives on Migration
  • M. J. Mosher
Rethinking Anthropological Perspectives on Migration, edited by Graciela S. Cabana and Jeffery J. Clark. Gainesville: University of Florida Press, 2011. 362 pp. (ISBN 978-0-8130-3607-6) $79.95 (hardcover).

Migration, a ubiquitous agent of change for humans, creates a natural framework for anthropological studies. Cabana and Clark observe a fragmented composition of many studies within our multi-field discipline. Hoping to unify the anthropological approach and move beyond the traditional “causes and consequences,” the authors organized an AAA symposium in 2005. Members suggested that concepts of population movement be seen as a series of processes to create a more fluid framework for interdisciplinary collaboration and to increase the holistic awareness of this universal modifier in human existence. This book is a result of that symposium.

The bookend chapters—both the introduction by editors Cabana and Clark in Part 1 and Tsuda’s conclusion in Part VI, entitled “Modern Perspectives on Ancient Migration”—are well-organized and whet the appetite for their proposed “interdisciplinary” treatises. These chapters represent what could have been. Unfortunately, subsequent chapters are organized into fragmented anthropological subfields, with many authors explaining traditional thinking, only occasionally scraping off their conventional assumptions previously employed as explanatory models to human behavior and migration. The symposium’s minimal working definition of migration is “one-way relocation to a different environment by at least one individual” (Cabana and Clark, page 5). Authors point out the obvious: that people move around in their environment for a variety of reasons, that movement may range from local to global, and that it involves change and adaptation on many personal and societal levels. Very few authors seem to venture out of their comfort zones to illuminate novel interdisciplinary study. When they do offer such insight, it leaves one anxious for more of the same.

Part II concentrates on archaeological approaches to the study of migration. Bernardini suggests that the social lines between ethnic identities are blurred, not safely distinct, as many studies assume. Fowles reinterprets the Pueblo past, reversing traditional explanations of an ultimate goal of reaching a place to settle, to the idea that movement is a natural course of events regardless of the length of time one remains sedentary. A question then becomes: Is a permanent residence a failure for the nomad, and not the assumed status that repetitive moves are the failure? Darling continues in the Southwest, using the O’odham evidence to discuss cognitive geography and the relationship of landscape and ritual. Clark discusses issues surrounding the detection of migration and its impact on both the origin and destination environments.

Linguistics are the focus of Parts III and IV. Ortman uses the conceptual metaphor to examine a cognitive process in migration. This chapter clearly [End Page 327] explains the form and function of the metaphor’s properties and offers Mesa Verde material culture to illustrate how archaeologists and linguists might collaborate to examine material culture in order to illuminate “conceptual systems in nonliterate societies” (Ortman, page 138). Beekman and Christensen investigate the relationship of power and identity, reminding us that often studies concentrate on destination dynamics, and those dynamics are variable. Hill’s chapter outlines the benefits of using linguistics to refine explanations generated from archaeological and genetic data. Fowler suggests that interpretations of migration combine both external and internal dynamics as motivators and mechanisms of change. She reminds us of the human variation in both, pushing us to search beyond reducing migration to a common denominator for all. Ehret offers case studies to illustrate the tools by which the study of linguistics interprets migration.

The final field of bioanthropology is represented in Part V. Here the authors offer greater insight into the use of current technology to examine human variation. Using strontium isotope analysis, Knudson discusses variation in levels over the life course and illustrates inconsistencies in the effects of food chain over time. She also views migration as a two-way phenomenon, with some individuals returning to their homeland as the explanation to curious variation in bone isotope values. Fix illustrates the use of population genetics, reminding us that migration is not the only force of allelic distribution...

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