Description
Book SynopsisStudy of political evolution viewed in the field of social anthropology. Looks at what is seen as the first major political development in history, when previously separate villages came together in chiefdoms - a notional form of organization where political and economic power is exercised by a single person or group over communities.
Trade ReviewChiefdoms: Yesterday and Today is a worthwhile read for anyone interested in sociopolitical development in the past or present and it should be a wake-up call for anyone still clinging to social taxonomies or with neo-evolutionary tendencies.
Thomas E. Emerson, University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana, Midcontinental Journal of Archaeology, Vol. 42, 2017
-- Thomas E. Emerson * Midcontinental Journal of Archaeology, Vol. 42, 2017 *
[Many] of the contributors to Chiefdoms: Yesterday and Today approached their subject with the idea in mind of evaluating the history of ideas in a critical and productive manner that will enrich anthropological teaching and research. [...] Neo-evolutionist ideas are now regarded by many as antiquated, yet are well represented in the book...Other chapters present new ideas, without, thankfully, abandoning the subject matter.
Richard E. Blanton, Antiquity, 92.361 (2018)
-- Richard E. Blanton * Antiquity, 92.361 (2018) *
This volume is an impressive synthesis of the varied questions of how and in what forms chiefdoms have appeared in human history. Not only are the materials reviewed cross-cultural (e.g., Polynesia, Africa, Mongolia), but the scholarly participation is interdisciplinary and transnational (much important Russian work is being showcased for an English-language readership.).
-- G.E. Marcus, University of California, Irvine * CHOICE *
Table of ContentsI. INTRODUCTION Chiefdoms from the Beginnings Until Now Leonid E. Grinin and Andrey V. Korotayev Chiefdoms in Evolutionary Perspective Robert L. Carneiro II. CHIEFDOMS AND POLITICAL EVOLUTION Chiefdoms and Their Analogues: Alternatives of Social Evolution at the Societal Level of Medium Cultural Complexity Leonid E. Grinin and Andrey V. Korotayev On Chiefs and Chiefdoms Henri J. M. Claessen The Emergence of Multi-Agent Polities of the Northern Central European Plains in the Early Middle Ages, 600-900 A.D. Ludomir R. Lozny Heterarchy and Hierarchy Among the Ancient Mongolian Nomads Nikolay N. Kradin III. CHIEFDOMS AND STATES Chiefdom Confederacies and State Origins D. Blair Gibson Complex Chiefdom: Precursor of the State or Its Analogue? Leonid E. Grinin IV. FROM PAST TO PRESENT Chiefs, Chieftaincies, Chiefdoms, and Chiefly Confederacies: Power in the Evolution of Political Systems Timothy K. Earle Chiefdom at War with Chiefless People While the State Looks On Petr Skalník Beyond States and Empires: Chiefdoms and Informal Politics Patrick Chabal, Gary M. Feinman, and Petr Skalník V. CONCLUSION Chiefdoms: Beyond Time? Leonid E. Grinin and Andrey V. Korotayev Index
