Political Economy, Neoliberalism, and the Prehistoric Economies of Latin America

Product Description Volume 32 of REA continues the series' on-going presentation of new and highly engaging anthropological research. Chapters contained herein reflect the diverse range of broad based and localized topics economic anthropologists currently explore from various critical perspectives. Spanning deep history and present day economic processes, the contributions to this volume are subdivided into three major thematic sections. Part I addresses questions of how the political economy is articulated at the macro- and micro-level through processes of consumption, production, gift-giving, and evolution. The essays of Part II assume a more critical stance as outcomes of neoliberalism are considered from both a gendered and institutional perspective. Finally, the papers of Part III shift focus to the prehistoric economies of Latin America. Review This volume in the series Research in Economic Anthropology, which is focused on archaeological research in human economic thought and behavior, examines the topics from a variety of perspectives. Organization is in three parts. Part one contains five investigations of economic thought and practice in a variety of conditions, from working on the floor of a diamond cutting shop in India to religion as an element of vegetable production in Guatemala. Part two addresses the recent global recession from a variety of perspectives, and part three explores the prehistoric economies of Latin America from an archaeological perspective. Editors are Matejowsky (anthropology, U. of Central Florida) and Wood (medical information science, Akita U. Graduate School of Medicine, Japan). Distributed in North America by Turpin Distribution. --Book News Inc. Portland, OR About the Author Ty Matejowsky - University of Central Florida, USADonald C. Wood - Akita University Graduate School of Medicine, Japan