The political landscape : constellations of authority in early complex polities / Adam T. Smith.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Smith, Adam T.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Political anthropology.

Landscape archaeology--Political aspects.

Landscape archaeology.

Landscape assessment.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (349 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Other Title:

Constellations of authority in early complex polities

Place of Publication:

Berkeley : University of California Press, c2003.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

How do landscapes-defined in the broadest sense to incorporate the physical contours of the built environment, the aesthetics of form, and the imaginative reflections of spatial representations-contribute to the making of politics? Shifting through the archaeological, epigraphic, and artistic remains of early complex societies, this provocative and far-reaching book is the first systematic attempt to explain the links between spatial organization and politics from an anthropological point of view. The Classic-period Maya, the kingdom of Urartu, and the cities of early southern Mesopotamia provide the focal points for this multidimensional account of human polities. Are the cities and villages in which we live and work, the lands that are woven into our senses of cultural and personal identity, and the national territories we occupy merely stages on which historical processes and political rituals are enacted? Or do the forms of buildings and streets, the evocative sensibilities of architecture and vista, the aesthetics of place conjured in art and media constitute political landscapes-broad sets of spatial practices critical to the formation, operation, and overthrow of polities, regimes, and institutions? Smith brings together contemporary theoretical developments from geography and social theory with anthropological perspectives and archaeological data to pursue these questions.

Contents:

Front matter

Contents

Illustrations

Acknowledgments

Introduction: Surveying the Political Landscape

1. Sublimated Spaces

2. Archaeologies of Political Authority

3. Geopolitics

4. Polities

5. Regimes

6. Institutions

Conclusion: Toward a Cartography of Political Landscapes

References Cited

Index

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references (p. 283-314) and index.

Description based on print version record and CIP data provided by publisher; resource not viewed.

ISBN:

9786612762857

9780520420601

0520420608

9780520936997

052093699X

9781282762855

1282762850

9781597348140

1597348147

OCLC:

475929988