Critique [of The Challenges and Limitations of Conducting Research Among the Old Order Amish by Jerry Savells and Thomas Foster]

The fact that the Old Order Amish have resisted acculturation processes in the United States is not startling news. The generally successful persistence of many aspects of traditional Amish culture as islands within the mainstream of American society has been well-articulated in general studies by John Hostetler and others. It is also documented in more specific community studies, for example the work of Elmer and Dorothy Schwieder at Kalona, Iowa, published in 1975 -- a source not cited in the above article, although that community was also among the individual Old Order Amish groups studied by Savells and Foster. Similarly, the need to understand the value system of a group one is studying is a long-standing ethnographic axiom. Verstehen is mandatory whether one is studying an ethnic or similarly-demarcated group within American society or whether one is going off to learn about the culture of people in the Trobriand Islands or some other area which is relatively isolated from western society

[Review of] Richard E. Meyer, ed. Cemeteries and Gravemarkers: Voices of American Culture

The twelve individual essays contained in this volume were originally presented as papers in the Cemeteries and Gravestones Section at a conference of the American Culture Association. A short foreword by James Deetz, an early leader in the anthropological study of New England cemeteries from the colonial period, provides some instructive initial insights into the wealth of cultural information which can be derived from the study of mortuary behavior in the United States. Meyer\u27s thoughtful introduction and his topical bibliography, though not exhaustive, will be of considerable utility for those wishing to pursue the research topic further. An index along with numerous photographs and other illustrative material additionally enhance this volume

[Review of] Clyde Holler. Black Elk\u27s Religion: The Sun Dance and Lakota Catholicism

Few, if any, American Indian individuals are more widely known in the United States than the Lakota holy man, Black Elk (1863-1950). His story, particularly as presented by John Neihardt in Black Elk Speaks, has been required reading for legions of students taking classes in literature, religion, anthropology, and American Indian Studies. Scholars in those fields have generated a body of critical literature which has taken on a life of its own as Neihardt\u27s book, originally published in 1931, has been reprinted in paperback editions many times since 1960. During the 1970s, Neihardt appeared on the Dick Cavett show and, along with Black Elk, became something of a cult hero. Meanwhile, heated debates have arisen as to whether Neihardt\u27s book is ethnographically or historically accurate and whether it is a faithful as-told-to autobiography or a novel. Clyde Holler\u27s book is the most recent major work in this controversy. It deals with the question of Catholicism in Black Elk\u27s life and the role of Christianity in contemporary Lakota culture, specifically regarding the Sun Dance

[Review of] R. H. Barnes. Two Crows Denies It: A History of Controversy in Omaha Sociology

The subtitle of this book clearly reflects the scope of work Barnes sets out to accomplish. It also suggests that the study is aimed at a disciplinary readership consisting of anthropologists, sociologists, and some social historians more than an interdisciplinary audience reflected by the membership of the National Association for Ethnic Studies. Specialists in Plains anthropology and world-wide kinship studies will undoubtedly welcome this historical review of the Omaha tribal social system. Non-specialists can glean some insights as well

[Review of] Jack Kugelmass, ed. Between Two Worlds: Ethnographic Essays on American Jewry

This volume contains twelve varied, academically insightful, and often just plain entertaining chapters, along with the editor\u27s lengthy and instructive introduction. Each chapter includes helpful explanatory footnotes, in-text translation of Hebrew and Yiddish terms, and abundant references to the large body of literature drawn upon by the individual authors. The book should not only be of interest and utility to students specializing in Jewish studies but also to those scholars analyzing the general processes of ethnicity in the United States. For the latter audience, a separate over-all glossary might have enhanced the volume beyond the translations within the text

[Review of] R. Carlos Nakai. Changes: Native American Flute Music and Cycles: Native American Flute Music

Perhaps humans are most ethnocentric when it comes to matters of food and music. Soul food has become a dimension for defining ethnic groups -- the dishes may be chitlins, bagels, tacos or other such foods. As society becomes more open, these foods pass from the ghettos and barrios to the community at large. One would hope that some inter-ethnic group understanding and appreciation might accompany the sharing of varying gustatory pleasures. Music represents another dimension of ethnic group identity. As with learning to eat different foods, one might comprehend something of the spirit of another people by listening to their songs -- their soul music

[Review of] Raymond 1. DeMallie and Douglas R. Parks. eds. Sioux Indian Religion: Tradition and Innovation

Most of the papers included in this anthology were presented in Bismarck in 1982 at a conference entitled American Indian Religion in the Dakotas: Historical and Contemporary Perspectives. The conference was funded by the North Dakota Humanities Council and brought together a wide array of academicians and lay people representing different and sometimes conflicting experiential and philosophical points of view

[Review of] Alexandru Moscu (Director/Co-Producer) and Joel Geyer (Writer/Co-Producer). In Search of Freedom: Nebraskans from Latvia

Alexandru Moscu and Joel Geyer have produced a program which provides many penetrating insights into the dimensions of ethnicity in the United States. Furthermore they packaged the program in a manner which is not only instructive but also emotionally moving and aesthetically pleasing. The result is a scholarly and artistic gem

A cosmic superfluid phase

The universe may have undergone a superfluid-like phase during its evolution, resulting from the injection of nontopological charge into the spontaneously broken vacuum. In the presence of vortices this charge is identified with angular momentum. This leads to turbulent domains on the scale of the correlation length. By restoring the symmetry at low temperatures, the vortices dissociate and push the charges to the boundaries of these domains. The model can be scaled (phenomenologically) to very low energies, it can be incorporated in a late time phase transition and form large scale structure in the boundary layers of the correlation volumes. The novel feature of the model lies in the fact that the dark matter is endowed with coherent motion. The possibilities of identifying this flow around superfluid vortices with the observed large scale bulk motion is discussed. If this identification is possible, then the definite prediction can be made that a more extended map of peculiar velocities would have to reveal large scale circulations in the flow pattern