Review by Choice Review
Taking New Orleans and the legacy of Katrina as its center, this book bridges several disciplines: archaeology, cultural heritage and tourism, anthropology, and social theory are all involved to develop Dawdy's construction of "patina." There is much here on the urban archaeology of New Orleans and on local understandings of the material residue of the city's past, but the real focus is social theory and, specifically, how to understand the power of objects in peoples' lives. As both an archaeologist and a collector, this reviewer is not entirely persuaded in all aspects, but the argument here is stronger than many theoretical takes on material culture and antiques collecting. Even while taking theory as a focus, the writing is clear, and the extensive examples Dawdy (anthropology, Univ. of Chicago) draws from both local archaeology and interviews to help anchor the argument in the material world. General readers will probably not care about Benjamin and Durkheim and how their theoretical inspirations reflect through this material, but the book will appeal to archaeologists and anthropologists at the graduate and professional levels, and would be suitable for undergraduates with a bit of grounding in those fields. Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates and above. --Frederic W. Gleach, Cornell University
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Choice Review
