Networks, Territories, and the Cartography of Ancient States
01 Dec 2005-Annals of The Association of American Geographers (Taylor & Francis Group)-Vol. 95, Iss: 4, pp 832-849
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors compare network maps and bounded-territory representations for the Inka, Mauryan, and Sassanian polities, and show that network approaches enable to depict competition within and among polities as they grow, the efficient use of nodal points as a focus for political leaders, and the realities of nonoverlapping ritual, social, and economic activities that have an impact on political cohesion.
Abstract: With broad lines and dark shading, the cartographic depictions of ancient states and empires convey the impression of comprehensive political entities having firm boundaries and uniform territorial control. These depictions oversimplify the complexities of early state growth, as well as overstating the capacity of central governments to control large territories. Archaeological and textual evidence suggests that ancient states are better understood through network models rather than bounded-territory models. Network approaches enable us to depict competition within and among polities as they grow, the efficient use of nodal points as a focus for political leaders, and the realities of nonoverlapping ritual, social, and economic activities that have an impact on political cohesion. Network maps and bounded-territory representations are compared for the Inka, Mauryan, and Sassanian polities.
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TL;DR: In this article, the authors argue that borders are artefacts of dominant discursive processes that have led to the fencing off of chunks of territory and people from one another, and that these processes can change and as they do, borders live on as residual phenomena that may still capture our imagination but no longer serve any essential purpose.
Abstract: From one viewpoint, interstate borders are simple ‘artefacts on the ground’. Borders exist for a variety of practical reasons and can be classified according to the purposes they serve and how they serve them. They enable a whole host of important political, social, and economic activities. From a very different perspective, borders are artefacts of dominant discursive processes that have led to the fencing off of chunks of territory and people from one another. Such processes can change and as they do, borders live on as residual phenomena that may still capture our imagination but no longer serve any essential purpose. Yet, what if, although still necessary for all sorts of reasons, borders are also inherently problematic? We need to change the way in which we think about borders to openly acknowledge their equivocal character. In other words, we need to see a border not as that which is either fixed or that as such must be overcome, but as an evolving construction that has both practical merits and demerits that must be constantly reweighed. Thinking about borders should be opened up to consider territorial spaces as ‘dwelling’ rather than national spaces and to see political responsibility for pursuit of a ‘decent life’ as extending beyond the borders of any particular state. Borders matter, then, both because they have real effects and because they trap thinking about and acting in the world in territorial terms. Keywords: borders, frontiers, decent life, dwelling, territory, heterotopia, globalization (Published online: 7 November 2008) Citation: Ethics & Global Politics. Vol. 1, No. 4, 2008, pp. 175-191. DOI: 10.3402/egp.v1i4.1892
220 citations
Cites background from "Networks, Territories, and the Cart..."
...…geopolitics: geographies of modern statehood (Hettner Lectures 4), Heidelberg, Germany, Institute of Geography, University of Heidelberg, 7 26; Monica L. Smith (2005) Networks, territories, and the cartography of ancient states, Annals of the Association of American Geographers, 95, 832 849....
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TL;DR: The case of agricultural intensification in pre-Hispanic highland Mexico is used in this paper to illustrate major points of the paper, and a course for integration of diverse literature to investigate the emergence and developmental trajectories of complex societies is proposed.
Abstract: Investigations of the evolutionary dynamics of cooperation and collective action provide productive venues for theorizing social complexity, yet this multidisciplinary scholarship contains analytical and epistemological tensions that require reconciliation. We propose a course for integration of this diverse literature to investigate the emergence and developmental trajectories of complex societies. Greater attention to collective action problems, cultural mechanisms that promote cooperation, differentiation of human interests, and multiscalar research designs provide firmer conceptual underpinnings for a theoretically grounded cultural evolutionary framework. The case of agricultural intensification in pre-Hispanic highland Mexico is used to illustrate major points of the paper.
164 citations
Cites background from "Networks, Territories, and the Cart..."
...In this literature, complex societies and their constituent factions are conceived as large networks of relationships that could be either tightly or loosely bounded (Kurtz 2008: 132; Smith 2005)....
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TL;DR: The Political Landscape: Constellations of Authority in Early Complex Polities by Adam T. Smith as mentioned in this paper is a seminal work in the field of early complex polity studies.
Abstract: The Political Landscape: Constellations of Authority in Early Complex Polities. Adam T. Smith. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2003. 346 pp.
108 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examined the intersection of antagonistic, diplomatic, subordinate, and kinship relationships and discussed how these overlapping networks contributed to dynamic changes in the Classic period.
Abstract: The organization of Classic Maya society emerged from diverse and overlapping social interactions which shaped a dynamic political landscape. Vying for power, elites legitimized their status by claiming ancestry from various supernaturals and engaged in conspicuous displays of competition, warfare, and ritual practice which were often recorded on stone monuments. By examining the inscribed relationships between Maya centers, we chart organizational changes in sociopolitical networks throughout the Classic period. Methods derived from social network analysis are used to examine temporal changes in the distribution and centralization of political power through different network interactions. We examine the intersection of antagonistic, diplomatic, subordinate, and kinship relationships and discuss how these overlapping networks contributed to dynamic changes in the Classic period. This case study demonstrates how current network analysis techniques can contribute to archaeological studies of the scalar dynamics and organizational changes of past social and political systems.
80 citations
References
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TL;DR: A separation theorem for convex fuzzy sets is proved without requiring that the fuzzy sets be disjoint.
Abstract: A fuzzy set is a class of objects with a continuum of grades of membership. Such a set is characterized by a membership (characteristic) function which assigns to each object a grade of membership ranging between zero and one. The notions of inclusion, union, intersection, complement, relation, convexity, etc., are extended to such sets, and various properties of these notions in the context of fuzzy sets are established. In particular, a separation theorem for convex fuzzy sets is proved without requiring that the fuzzy sets be disjoint.
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TL;DR: This paper showed that European expansion not only transformed the historical trajectory of non-European societies, but also reconstituted the historical accounts of these societies before European intervention, and asserted that anthropology must pay more attention to history.
Abstract: The intention of this work is to show that European expansion not only transformed the historical trajectory of non-European societies but also reconstituted the historical accounts of these societies before European intervention. It asserts that anthropology must pay more attention to history.
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01 Jan 1982
TL;DR: The World of Goods as mentioned in this paper is a classic of economic anthropology whose insights remain compelling and urgent, arguing that poverty is caused as much by the erosion of local communities and networks as it is by lack of possessions and contrast small-scale with large-scale consumption in the household.
Abstract: It is well-understood that the consumption of goods plays an important, symbolic role in the way human beings communicate, create identity, and establish relationships. What is less well-known is that the pattern of their flow shapes society in fundamental ways. In this book the renowned anthropologist Mary Douglas and economist Baron Isherwood overturn arguments about consumption that rely on received economic and psychological explanations. They ask new questions about why people save, why they spend, what they buy, and why they sometimes-but not always-make fine distinctions about quality.
Instead of regarding consumption as a private means of satisfying one’s preferences, they show how goods are a vital information system, used by human beings to fulfill their intentions towards one another. They also consider the implications of the social role of goods for a new vision for social policy, arguing that poverty is caused as much by the erosion of local communities and networks as it is by lack of possessions, and contrast small-scale with large-scale consumption in the household.
A radical rethinking of consumerism, inequality and social capital, The World of Goods is a classic of economic anthropology whose insights remain compelling and urgent.
This Routledge Classics edition includes a new foreword by Richard Wilk.
"Forget that commodities are good for eating, clothing, and shelter; forget their usefulness and try instead the idea that commodities are good for thinking." – Mary Douglas and Baron Isherwood
1,939 citations
01 Oct 1989-Cartographica: The International Journal for Geographic Information and Geovisualization
TL;DR: In this article, the traditional rules of cartography, long rooted in a scientific epistemology of the map as an objective form of knowledge, are reviewed as an object of deconstruction.
Abstract: The paper draws on ideas in postmodern thinking to redefine the nature of maps as representations of power. The traditional rules of cartography – long rooted in a scientific epistemology of the map as an objective form of knowledge – will first be reviewed as an object of deconstruction. Second, a deconstructionist argument will explore the textuality of maps, including their metaphorical and rhetorical nature. Third, the paper will examine the dimensions both of external power and of the omnipresence of internal power in the cartographic representation of place. Cet article s'aventure dans des concepts post-modernes afin de redefinir la nature des cartes comme etant des representations du pouvoir. Longuement enracinees dans une epistemologie scientifique de la carte comme forme objective de connaissance, les regles traditionnelles de la cartographie seront d'abord revues en tant qu'objets de "deconstruction". Ensuite, les arguments d'un "deconstructioniste" exploreront la "textualite" des cartes, y comp...
1,924 citations
Book•
01 Jan 2000
TL;DR: In this article, the central places in Southern Germany were studied and the authors presented a map of the central regions of Germany with respect to the Central Places of Central Places in South Germany.
Abstract: (1967). Central Places in Southern Germany. Economic Geography: Vol. 43, No. 3, pp. 275-276.
1,915 citations