Power from below in premodern societies : the dynamics of political complexity in the archaeological record / edited by T.L. Thurston, Manuel Fernandez-Gotz.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Thurston, Tina L., editor.

Fernández-Götz, Manuel, editor.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Social archaeology.

Social evolution.

Social stratification--History.

Social stratification.

Social structure--History.

Social structure.

Power (Social sciences).

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xv, 320 pages) : digital, PDF file(s).

Place of Publication:

Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 2021.

Summary:

This volume challenges previous views of social organization focused on elites by offering innovative perspectives on 'power from below.' Using a variety of archaeological, anthropological, and historical data to question traditional narratives of complexity as inextricably linked to top-down power structures, it exemplifies how commoners have developed strategies to sustain non-hierarchical networks and contest the rise of inequalities. Through case studies from around the world - ranging from Europe to New Guinea, and from Mesoamerica to China - an international team of contributors explores the diverse and dynamic nature of power relations in premodern societies. The theoretical models discussed throughout the volume include a reassessment of key concepts such as heterarchy, collective action, and resistance. Thus, the book adds considerable nuance to our understanding of power in the past, and also opens new avenues of reflection that can help inform discussions about our collective present and future.

Contents:

Preface / Carole L. Crumley

Power from below in the archaeological record : trends and trajectories / T.L. Thurston and Manuel Fernández-Götz

Fragmenting Trypillian mega-sites : a bottom-up approach / Bisserka Gaydarska

Structure and agency. On Bronze Age tell settlement in the Carpathian Basin / Tobias L. Kienlin

Power requires others

'institutional realities' and the significance of individual power in late prehistoric Europe / David Fontijn

"And make some other man our king" : labile elite power structures in early Iron Age Europe / Bettina Arnold

Societies against the chief? Re-examining the value of 'heterarchy' as a concept for studying European Iron Age societies / Tom Moore and David González-Álvarez

Peasants, agricultural intensification, and collective action in premodern states / Lane F. Fargher and Richard E. Blanton

The spread of scribal literacy in Han China : all along the watchtowers / Christopher J. Foster

Confronting Leviathan : some remarks on resistance to the state in pre-capitalist societies. The case of early medieval northern Iberia / Carlos Tejerizo-García and Álvaro Carvajal Castro

The emergence of Monte Albán : a social innovation that lasted a millennium / Gary M. Feinman, Richard E. Blanton and Linda M. Nicholas

Dispersing power : the contentious, egalitarian politics of the Salado phenomenon in the Hohokam region of the U.S. Southwest / Lewis Borck and Jeffery J. Clark

The perplexing heterarchical complexity of New Guinea fisher-forager polities at contact / Paul Roscoe

Restoring disorder : thoughts on the past and future of a politically and socially conscious archaeology / T.L. Thurston and Manuel Fernández-Götz.

Notes:

Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 13 Oct 2021).

ISBN:

1-009-05132-6

1-009-04282-3

OCLC:

1283854281