718 A M E R I C A N ANTHROPOLOGIST
their senior civil servants. More importantly, the
insights derived by the reader from this scholar-
ly presentation reflect immediately on concerns
with related constitutional issues and the
tremendously important issue of Quebec
separatism.
One of the most important contributions the
book makes is the record of what Weaver calls
the “corporate memory” and experience of civil
servants, Privy Council members, and the
Ministers and their deputies. T h e carefully
documented account of who said and did what
at a given point of time and the rippling effects
of such actions and decisions on policies and
lives is a major contribution to our understand-
ing of how incremental collective behavior leads
to often immutable policies for which no one in-
dividual assumes accountability. This is central
to an understanding of Indian reactions to In-
dian policy and to the evaluation (hopefully) of
the political processes that might counteract the
collective process of decision making. If the
work is to be faulted, it is only because we d o
not have access to the same data, insights, and
Archeology
Symbols i n Action: Ethnoarchaeological
Studies of Material Culture. Ian Hodder. New
Studies in Archaeology. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 1982. x + 244 pp. $39.50
(cloth).
Stephen E. Plog
University of Virginia
Karen Richman
University of Virginia
Efforts to understand patterns of stylistic
variation in prehistoric artifacts have increased
in recent years. Hodder addresses the relation-
ship between patterns in material culture and
ethnicity, such as whether areas with similar
types of artifacts or stylistic attributes represent
similar social units or when different ethnic
units use different material symbols. In the
opening chapter, he argues that such questions
can only be answered through ethnoarcheolog-
ical studies in which it is possible to measure
directly the relationship between such variables
as cultural similarity and interaction intensity.
[85, 19831
analyses about the Indian collective (or cor-
porate) responsive processes. However, the
careful documentation provided by Weaver
allows us to draw our own conclusions where
hers do not extend far enough.
“The Indian question is still with us” remains
a truism. In addition to Weaver’s accounts, the
Canadian constitutional deliberations made
clear that Indians are not yet part of any policy
decision-making processes. At this time, the I n -
dian Act is again under review with little Indian
consultation. Consultations, such as they are,
are very reminiscent of the 1969 White Paper
ones, that is, post facto and spotty. Seemingly,
the insights provided by Weaver as to how and
why certain policy decisions are made have not
been utilized by current decision makers. many
of whom are still the same individuals who ap-
pear in her book. Weaver’s work is a core docu-
ment for any serious scholar of Canadian Indian
policy and addresses the complexities of policy
making in fruitfully analytic, highly literate,
and very readable ways.
Thus, in succeeding chapters, studies of several
African groups (the Tugen, Pokot, Njemps,
Dorobo and Samburu of Kenya; the Lozi of
Zambia; and the Nuba of Sudan) are described.
As aspects of each group are discussed,
Hodder’s interpretations evolve, the conceptual
schemes of different ethnologists are applied,
and he shows that ideas presented in earlier
chapters are simplistic. This format presumably
reflects the evolution of Hodder’s own ideas.
Documenting that evolution provides an ex-
cellent example of the continual formulation
and modification that is part of any research
but also leads to a longer, less succinct presen-
tation that is not theoretically integrated.
Following the discussion of the ethnoarcheolog-
ical studies, Hodder outlines the implications of
the research for archeology and provides a case
study.
T h e conclusions reached range from state-
ments concerning the causes of stylistic varia-
tion to more general proposals about appro-
priate theoretical frameworks for archeological
research. In regard to stylistic variation, pro-
 ARCHEOLOGY
positions that view stylistic patterns as a passive
reflection or by-product of social organization
or relationships are criticized. Rather than
passive reflections, Hodder (p. 125) proposes
that material culture forms and gives meaning
to social behavior as a “part of ideologies which
support, justify, legitimate, or disrupt the adap-
tive strategies of groups within societies.” They
are, in short, symbols in action. As ideology and
symbolic codes vary from group to group, Hod-
der (p. 217) states that “there can never be any
direct predictive relationships between material
culture and social behavior,” including relation-
ships between such variables as burial treatment
and social status or settlement area and popula-
tion size, as well as relationships between
material culture boundaries and ethnic units.
As a result of this latter conclusion, Hodder
criticizes some of the major components of cur-
rent archeological research.
It is an understatement to say that Hodder’s
work is provocative, though some aspects of his
work, such as the emphasis on the active role of
material symbols, echo some of the conclusions
of other recent archeological studies such as
Wobst’s (Anthropological Papers of the
Museum of Anthropology, University of Michi-
gan, No. 61) discussion in 1977 of style and in-
formation exchange. Nevertheless, other
aspects depart considerably from the views of
many archeologists and in all likelihood will
generate considerable debate.
That discussion may focus on several aspects
of Hodder’s research. First, while ethnoarche-
ology offers the opportunity to define and
measure precisely such ambiguous archeological
terms as “interaction intensities” or “economic
competition,” that opportunity often is not rea-
lized because only general summary statements
concerning critical variables are provided. Sec-
ond, material distributions and similarities
often are illustrated by only dots on maps, with
little information on the sample sizes or samp-
ling units. I t appears that the author spent only
a brief period among each of the groups
studied, and that he spoke through interpreters
during those visits. He does not clarify to what
extent informants and material items were
sampled systematically. The limited nature of
the ethnography is compounded by the author’s
reliance on few other sources for his discussion
of the different groups; those used include some
ethnographies published more than 30 years
ago, such as Nadel’s (Oxford University Press,
1947) study of the Nuba. As culture change and
context complicate the ethnographer’s discovery
719
of symbolic meaning, these disparities raise
questions about some of the interrelationships
Hodder posits between material symbols and
social behavior.
Finally, Hodder provides little evidence of
what the people who produce, exchange, and
consume material items think or say about the
objects studied. Thus, his identification of some
items and not others as pivotal symbolic markers
sometimes seems arbitrary, and his discussions
do not confront the problem of meaning in a
cultural context. Two aspects of his analysis of
Njemps calabashes exemplify some of the prob-
lems with his treatment of meaning. Njemps
women, unlike their counterparts among the
neighboring Pokot and Tugen, carve elaborate
designs on their calabash milk containers. Hod-
der observes that the Njemp artisans casually
borrow designs from women of foreign ethnic
groups, and he finds this practice in marked
contrast to the highly conformist “in-group’’
style of women’s clothing and pottery. While the
Njemps women’s dress and ceramics demon-
strate female “acceptance of the strict control
held over them by men,” the decorative cala-
bashes are said to be used by women to “disrupt
social boundaries in opposition to the older men
and to form their local independence” (p. 69).
The designs incised on the calabashes also are
the medium of “silent discourse” for women
whose communication in every other context
seems to be stifled completely by senior men.
However, Hodder does not identify these local
independencies or give examples of women’s
disruptions of social boundaries. (Indeed, we
wonder if by symbolically expressing their dif-
ference women are not disrupting, but reinforc-
ing the status quo hierarchy.) Although he
discusses the limited and highly controlled
status of women in the Baringo district, the only
evidence is drawn from Spencer’s (Routledge
and Kegan Paul, 1965) ethnography of a dif-
ferent society, the Samburu. Hodder’s (p. 83)
interpretation of that evidence equates lineality
with authority, implies that monogamous
unions attribute higher status to women, and
devalues female domestic labor, propositions
that may characterize the ideology of gender
domination in our own society but not
necessarily in the pastoral groups he discusses.
T h e calabash designs also are examined for
representations of the Njemps social order.
“Zoned,” or bounded, decorations are con-
trasted with the total absence of, or haphazard-
ly placed, “floating” designs on Tugen and
Pokot containers, and he postulates that “zona-
720 AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST [85, 19831

tion is part of the more constrained outlook and but there are occasional references to more
greater awareness of boundaries around and complex societies that have been the subject of
within the Njemps” (p. 72). Without consid- ecological interpretation (e.g., the Aztec).
ering the Njemp artisan’s conception of the The volume is divided into eight chapters, the
aesthetic order, Hodder (pp. 70-73) concludes first two of which establish the conceptual
that order in the artistic domain reflects the framework. Chapter one reviews the basic tenets
desire for order in the social world. He thus cir-upon which cultural ecology regularly draws for
cumvents altogether the Njemps cultural cate- theoretical support. Evolution is accorded spe-
gories and postulates an unsupported relation- cial attention on the grounds that ecological
ship between aesthetic order and social order. theory is ultimately grounded, at least in part,
Despite these issues, however, Hodder’s study in evolutionary theory. In chapter two, Jochim
is an important addition to theoretical discus- joins a series of psychological theories to develop
sions of the causes of variation in the archeo- a model of human behavior couched in terms of
logical record and will lead to continued revi- stimuli and rewards. This is clearly a departure
sions of theories of style. For example, while from mainstream cultural ecology, which tends
some of Hodder’s general proposals are similar to regard individual perception and motive as
to those of Wobst, the data Hodder presents are incidental to the problem of human adaptation.
inconsistent with Wobst’s predictions from the Jochim addresses, but does not resolve, the
information exchange theory, such as the pat- thorny problem of reconciling this psychological
terns of stylistic variation expected on items of approach, which would seem to admit the
differing degrees of visibility. Furthermore, possibility of vacillation in the motives and
Hodder’s discussion of the complex interrela- perceptions of an individual, with evolutionary
tions among ideology, economic strategies, theory, where inherited traits are essentially im-
mutable, thus exposing their recipients to the
social relationships, and stylistic variation are a
needed addition to previous studies of style. His rigors of natural selection.
work complements other recent analyses of the Chapters three through seven constitute the
above relationships, for example, Wiessner’s substance of what Jochim has to say about
(Ph.D. dissertation, Department of Anthropol- ecological anthropology. Environments, their
ogy, University of Michigan, 1977) study among structure and variability, and the difficulties
the lKung Bushmen. It also suggests the need to imposed by this structure and variability on
consider the voluminous anthropological litera- those who live and reproduce in them are con-
ture on ethnicity that has been ignored by ar- sidered in chapter three. Chapter four is
cheologists concerned with stylistic patterns in devoted to feeding strategies, the goals of these
prehistoric artifacts. In combination with ar- strategies, and the range of strategies viable in
cheological studies that are beginning to different settings and circumstances. There is a
measure change through time in these lengthy discussion of efficiency in which effi-
variables, Hodder’s work will move us toward a ciency of land, labor, and time are presented as
more adequate understanding of stylistic varia- separate goals- distinctions useful in theory,
tion. but often difficult to apply.
Chapter four also takes up the issue of secur-
ity which Jochim believes is a goal of feeding
strategies among many hunter-gatherers and
Strategies for Survival: Cultural Behavior in simple agriculturalists. This discussion, how-
a n Ecological Context. Michael A . Jochzm. ever, is marred by several apparent misstate-
New York: Academic Press, 1981. x + 233 pp. ments. The most serious of these occurs with
$18.50 (cloth). reference to Peter Gould’s game theoretic
analysis of fanning strategies in Western Ghana
Robert L. Bettinger (p. 98). Briefly, Could proposes that a particu-
University of California at Davis lar mixture of maize (which does well in wet
years) and hill rice (which does well in dry years)
It is Jochim’s stated purpose to provide a should be planted by the farmers of Western
framework for examining human/environmen- Ghana, who are unable to predict the occur-
tal interaction and for comparing studies of rence of wet and dry years. Jochim identifies this
such interactions in diverse natural and cultural as a production maximization strategy solution
settings. The bulk of the text is devoted to and suggests that these farmers might instead
hunter-gatherers and simple agriculturalists, opt to maximize security by planting only hill