An Archaeology of Resistance Materiality and Time in an African Borderland [Hardcover]

[A] remarkable book that, in keeping with the title, defies and indeed resists easy classification. . . . Materiality is what this book is about, and it serves as the lens through which to achieve a deeper understandingand not just a thicker descriptionof the multiplicity and complexity of resistance and state power. . . . [T]his is an outstanding book that not only offers a rich, diachronic account of a region that is not well studied at all, but that most of all makes an original contribution to debates of resistance and state formation; it also vividly underscores the rich potential of archaeological material culture studies.This thick, erudite, and complicated archaeological ethnography dealing with time and the significance of contemporary material culture has a simple purpose, which is to demonstrate how minority borderline ethnic groups have resisted incorporation by the state.? After an introductory chapter reviewing the ideas of other potential social theorists, Gonz?lez Ruibal achieves his goal with the detailed analysis of three different indigenous groups on an Ethiopian/Sudanese border that has produced neighboring centralized polities that by their nature are predatory.? The author's commentary and conclusions about how the Gumuz, Bertha, and Mao peoples manage this outcome in different ways are fascinating and for the most part convincing. ?As this original text will be of interest to Africanists of various disciplines, it belongs in every serious university library. ? Summing Up: Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates and above.An Archaeology of Resistance confronts predominant thought and practice in archaeology. In this contribution to the Archaeology and Society Series, Gonz?lez-Ruibal makes sustained and nuanced arguments about African resistance, time, and materiality. He engages contemporary villagers in the Sudanese-Ethiopian borderland. Egalitarian communities in this region have persisted within and alongside states for millenls;