Choice reviews - February 2012

The following books were reviewed in the February issue of Choice (requires subscription):

Ahmedabad: Shock City of Twentieth-Century India

"The strength of this first-rate, well-illustrated study is its thorough grounding in source material, an intimate knowledge of people and places, and its connections between Ahmedabad and such personalities as Gandhi, Vallabbhai Patel, and Anasuyaben Sarabhia, among a long list of prominent Gujeratis. ... Highly recommended."

Being Maasai, Becoming Indigenous: Postcolonial Politics in a Neoliberal World

"Rather than rewriting her previous books, anthropologist Hodgson (Rutgers), already well known for her work on the Maasai of Tanzania (Once Intrepid Warriors; The Church of Women), takes readers in a new direction. In this instance, her concern is with how the Maasai have been converted by themselves (and others) in the postcolonial era from romantic traditionalists into an 'indigenous' people ... Highly recommended."

Bodies, Politics, and African Healing: The Matter of Maladies in Tanzania

"[The] prologue sets the scene for the body of the discussion, which covers such topics as witchcraft, oracles, and native medicine; making Tanzanian traditional medicine; healers and their intimate becomings; and traditional birth attendants as institutional evocations. ... Recommended."

Learning, Teaching, and Musical Identity: Voices across Cultures

"This is a work of theme and variations: each essay reviews investigative research, revealing musicians from a particular culture and the issues facing the newer generation. ... Valuable for music educators and ethnomusicologists. ... Highly recommended."

Reflections on Musical Meaning and Its Representations

"This is a compendium of writings by one of the most original thinkers in musicology. ... Treitler stands every issue on its head and shakes well to expose a viewpoint about musical meaning... Highly recommended."

The Euro and Its Rivals: Money and the Construction of a Transnational City

"[A]n ethnographic study arguing that a bridge connecting Malmö, Sweden, and Copenhagen, Denmark, has similar cultural effects as a common European currency. ... [Peebles] draws similar parallels between those who opposed the bridge and those who advocated local currency rings... Along the way he ties in attitudes toward debt and bankruptcy, vagrancy, and immigration. ... Recommended."

The Great War in Russian Memory

"This important book radically alters understanding of the Russian and Soviet responses to WW I during the interwar period and up to 1945. ... The author skillfully analyzes films, graphic arts, novels, short stories, journalism, architecture, memoirs, paintings, museum exhibits, and many other expressions of people's memory of the war to demonstrate the main themes of this discourse as well as how it changed over time. The book deserves a wide readership. ... Highly recommended."

The Politics of Dress in Somali Culture

"This work has two major themes: Somalis' long involvement with the outside world, and the subsequent growing tensions over male and female roles in Somali society. ... Akou provides English readers rare insights into the complexities of dress traditions continually interwoven with political conflicts. ... Highly recommended."