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CREOLIZATION.

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CREOLIZATION: History, Ethnography, Theory. Edited by CHARLES STEWART. Walnut Greek, Calif.: Left Coast Press, 2007. vii and 268 pp.; diagrs., ills., bibliog., index. $65.00 (cloth), ISBN 9781598742787; $29.95 (paper), ISBN 9781598742794.

Charles Stewart's compilation is a welcome contribution to the burgeoning literature on the topic of creolization. Especially commendable is the breadth of his collection. As its title indicates, the volume focuses on specific histories of how the terms "Creole" and "creolization" have been used, on ethnographic material from Creole societies, and on what this material can contribute to discussions of creolization in academic theory. The volume is not divided into separate sections, although for the most part the development of the chapters follows this breakdown. As we glean from the various chapters, creolization has been associated with different ideas in different places. It may be associated with geography, with that which is local, with nativization or indigenization, with resistance, with mixture, with diaspora, with restructuring, or with race. As Stewart points out in his introduction, academic uses of the concept of "creolization" have tended to draw on and develop from one of these associations without recognizing the aspects that are being ignored. Proponents of theories of cultural creolization that assume that the term implies mixing or resistance, for instance, would do well to note how often the...

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