An Archaeology of Doings: Secularism and the Study of Pueblo Religion

First five star review I have ever given a book... well researched and written... post-secularism is a concept sorely needed in a world where elite liberal eastern archaeologists and anthropologists have perhaps missed the fundamentals of Ingenious America. Mr. Fowles presents a brilliant case that Secularists interpreted a world through an inaccurate lens and therefore missed the reality of the culture they were observing and categorizing. In my mind he is correct. The world these disciplines described is just not as simple as was commonly conceived. The appearance is that the secularists missed a beautifully enchanted forest because of their obsession with the trees.

"The doings" -- have you heard this phrase? It's a Southwestern Pueblo term for what academics call ritual or religion. Fowles explores what people practiced in the ancient precursors of the Pueblos' revered kivas, and in the same breath, what all of us do when we celebrate through sacred culture. Not a simple book, but rewarding one, because it gets us out from under notions like primitive religion. Fowles frequently works with ideas from Latour and his successors. Fortunately he knows how to do that and yet stay pretty close to archaeological earth.

A very important book that tries to correct years of faulty assumptions regarding Native American Religions. The book is more focused on Taos Pueblo Indians of New Mexico area. In several ways it supports the thesis of the book, GOD IS RED by Vine Deloria Jr. considered a classic by some experts on Native American Religions. AN ARCHAEOLOGY OF DOINGS is not an easy book to read. One may have to read each chapter twice to get the message. However, the effort will pay of.Ishwar Harris

Fowles is leading the exploration of indigenous perceptions of reality in the US Southwest. His story is powerful, convincing and intellectually well grounded.

I highly recommend this book. It is very readable and offers a clear and balanced view of how the Taos pueblo culture evolved within the context of that culture while trying to not frame it in terms of Western social constucts.

important theoretical intervention for archaeology. unpacks the intellectual history of many taken-for-granted assumptions about religion, social evolution.