NOTE: A "private forum" (i.e. a passworded page) has been created for accessing the reserve readings on this page. To download the readings, please visit that one, and login using the same password as the one used for editing the course wiki.
Week 1. September 6
Introduction: The primacy and centrality of state-based research in Near Eastern archaeology. The dilemma that we need to solve. Alternatives? The end of macro-historical models and the demise of the state. A cultural-studies approach to ancient states.
- Bartelson, Jens; 2001. “The spirit of criticism” in The critique of the state. Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press, 1-29.
- Abrams, Philip; 1988. “Notes on the difficulty of studying the state,” Journal of historical sociology 1: 58-89.
These are some books in traditional scholarship for you to skim through and familiarize yourself with the obsessive scholarly interests of archaeologists in the searching for the state (These I will keep in the Institute Library).
- Stein, Gil and Mitchell S. Rothman; 1994. Chiefdoms and early states in the Near East: the organizational dynamics of complexity. Monographs in World Archaeology 18. Prehistory Press.
- Feinman, Gary M. and Joyce Marcus (eds); 1998. Archaic states. Santa Fe; School of American Research Press.
- Nichols, Deborah L. and Thomas E. Charlton (eds.); 1997. The archaeology of city-states: cross-cultural approaches. Washington and London: Smithsonian Institution Press.
- Rothman, Mitchell S.; 2001. Uruk Mesopotamia & its neighbors : cross-cultural interactions in the era of state formation. Sante Fe, NM : School of American Research Press.
- Adams, Robert McCormick; 1966. The evolution of urban society: Early Mesopotamia and Prehispanic Mexico. Chicago: Aldine Publishing.
- Wittfogel, Karl August, 1957. Oriental despotism: a comparative study of total power. New Haven : Yale University Press.
Week 2. September 13
Ideology as social power: a misunderstood concept and the consequences of that.
Discussion + Response Papers.
Readings:
What is ideology?
- Eagleton, Terry; 2007. “file:1855713 What is ideology,” and “Ideological Strategies” in Ideology: an introduction. New Edition. Verso, 1-6
- Althusser, Louis; (1971). “file:1854397 Ideology and ideological state apparatuses (Notes towards an Investigation)” in Mapping ideology. Slavoj Zizek (ed.). London and New York : Verso, 100-140.
Mapping ideology today:
- Zizek, Slavoj; 1994. “file:1852641 Introduction: The spectre of ideology” in Mapping ideology. Slavoj Zizek (ed.). London and New York : Verso, 1-33.
An archaeological case:
- DeMarrais, Elizabeth, Luis Jaime Castillo, and Timothy Earle; 1996. “Ideology, materialization, and power strategies.” Current Anthropology 37:15-31.
Week 3. September 20
State: a ghost (spectre) in the archaeological record. Towards a critical geneaology of a concept.
Discussion + Response Papers
Readings:
Introduction to state:
- Bernbeck, Reinhard; 2007 (forthcoming in October). "Rise of the state," in Handbook of Archaeological Theories. R. Alexander Bentley, Herbert D.G. Maschner and Christopher Chippindale (eds.). Altamira Press, 533-545 (Handout).
- Mann, Michael; 1986. “Societies as organized power networks” in The sources of social power: Volume 1. A history of power from the beginning to AD 1760. Cambridge University Press, 1-33.
Status of the state in archaeological research: a Gramscian approach:
- Routledge, Bruce; 2004. “file:1954075 The thingness of the state” and “file:1955416 Hegemony, polity, identity” in Moab in the Iron Age: hegemony, polity, archaeology. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1-40.
- Gramsci, Antonio; 2006 (1971). “file:1960899 State and civil society” (from Selections from the Prison Notebooks of Antonio Gramsci) in Anthropology of the state: a reader. Akhil Gupta (ed.). Malden MA: Blackwell, 71-86.
Week 4. September 27 The rise of the state in the Near East: evolutionary models of social complexity. The question of the Early Mesopotamian temple-states in the 4th- 3rd millennia. The Uruk Phenomenon. Social power, urbanization, social complexity. Material traces of state formation.
Discussion + Response Papers
Readings:
Complexity:
- Chapman, Robert; 2003. “file:2038172 Complex archaeologies and archaeologies of complexity,” in Archaeologies of complexity. Routledge: London and New York, 187-198.
- Matthews, Roger; 2003. “file:2004626 States of mind: approching complexity,” in Archaeology of Mesopotamia: theories and approaches. Routledge: London and New York, 127-154.
Early State formation in Mesopotamia (and Egypt)
- Stein, Gil; 1998. “file:2000252 Heterogeneity, power and political economy: some current research issues in the archaeology of Old World complex societies,” Journal of Archaeological Research 6: 1-44.
- Rothman, Mitchell S.; 2007. "file:1999496 The archaeology of early administrative systems in Mesopotamia" in Settlement and society: essays dedicated to Robert McCormick Adams. Elizabeth C. Stone (ed.). Cotsen Institute of Archaeology (UCLA): Los Angeles, 235-254.
- Mann, Michael; 1986. “The emergence of stratification, states and multi-power-actor civilization in Mesopotamia,” in The sources of social power: Volume 1. A history of power from the beginning to AD 1760. Cambridge University Press, 73-104.
- Wengrow, David; 2006. "file:2003121 The evolution of simplicity: Naqada III," in The archaeology of Early Egypt: social transformations in North-East Africa, 10,000 to 2,650 BC. Cambridge University Press: Cambridge, 151-175.
Presentation: The so-called “Temple-State” in Mesopotamia (Casey)
- Diakonoff, Igor M; 1974. “file:2005609 Structure of society and state in Early Dynastic Sumer,” Sources and momographs: Monographs of the ancient Near East 1.3. Undena Publications: Los Angeles.
- Foster, Benjamin R.; 1981. “A new look at the Sumerian temple state,” Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient 24: 227-241.
- Postgate, Nicholas; 1992. “The temple,” in Early Mesopotamia: society and economy at the dawn of history. London and New York: Routledge, 109-136.
- Liverani, Mario; 1997. “file:1963516 Ancient Near Eastern cities and modern ideologies,” in Die orientalische Stadt: Kontinuität, Wandel, Bruch. G. Wilhelm (ed.), SDV Saarbrücker Druckerei und Verlag: Saarbrücken: 85-107.
Further reading- additional bibliography
- Rowlands; Michael; 1989. “A question of complexity” in Domination and resistance. D. Miller, M. Rowlands and C. Tilley (eds.). London and Boston : Unwin Hyman, 29-40.
- Larsen, Morgens Trolle; 1988. “Introduction: literacy and social complexity” in State and society: the emergence and development of social hierarchy and political centralization. J. Gledhill, B. Bender, M.T. Larsen (eds.). London: Unwin Hyman, 173-191.
- Wengrow; David; 2001. "The Evolution of Simplicity: Aesthetic Labour and Social Change in the Neolithic Near East," World Archaeology 33/2: 168-188.
- Baines, John and Norman Yoffee; 1998. “Order, legitemacy and wealth in ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia,” in Archaic states. Gary M. Feinman and Joyce Marcus (eds). Santa Fe; School of American Research Press, 199-260.
- Forest, Jean Daniel; 2005. “The state: the process of state formation as seen from Mesopotamia” in Archaeologies of the Middle East: critical perspectives. Susan Pollock and Reinhard Bernbeck (eds). Blackwell Publishing: Malden MA, 184-206.
Week 5. October 4
The myth of chiefdoms, archaic states, empires and other archaeological delusions: neo- and post-evolutionary models of the state.
Discussion + Response Papers
Readings:
- Yoffee, Norman; 2005. Myths of the archaic state : evolution of the earliest cities, states and civilizations. Cambridge University Press. (Read as much as you can to get a full sense of the book. You can skip / skim certain sections based on your interests.)
- Multiple Authors; 2005. Review of Myths of the Archaic State in Cambridge Archaeological Journal 15.2 (2005) 251-68.
This week's very special reading:
- Jorge Luis Borges, 1998. "file:2097418 The Lottery in Babylon". Collected Fictions. Translated by Andrew Hurley. New York: Penguin Books, 101-106.
Presentation: A cross-cultural comparison: The Early Mesopotamian and Greek City-States? (Thomas)
- Yoffee 2005, chapter 3.
- Morris, Ian; 1997. “An archaeology of equalities? The Greek city-states,” in The archaeology of city-states: cross-cultural approaches. Deborah L. Nichols and Thomas E. Charlton (eds.). Washington and London: Smithsonian Institution Press, 91-105. (This is on our shelf at the Institute Library)
Further reading- additional bibliography
- Pauketat, Timothy R.; 2007. “file:2123775 What constitutes civilization? Community and control in the Southwest, Mexico and Mesopotamia,” in Chiefdoms and other archaeological delusions. Lanham: Altamira Press, 163-199.
- Earle, Timothy; 1997. How chiefs come to power : the political economy in prehistory. Stanford University Press: Stanford.
- Earle, Timothy; 1987. "Chiefdoms in archaeological and ethnohistorical perspective" Annual Review of Anthropology 16: 279-308.
- Kristiansen, Kristian; 1991. “Chiefdoms, states and systems of social evolution,” in Chiefdoms : power, economy, and ideology. Timothy Earle (ed.). Cambridge University Press: Cambridge and New York, 16-43.
Week 6. October 11
Things in flux: Tribute, gift, exchange. Materiality and economy within and beyond the state.
Discussion + Response papers
Readings:
State as habitus: Trade, market and the symbolic capital
- Bourdieu, Pierre; 1999. “file:2172863 Rethinking the State: genesis and structure of the bureaucratic field,” in State/culture: state-formation after the cultural turn. George Steinmetz (ed.). Ithaca : Cornell University Press, 53-75.
- Berdan, Frances F.; 1989. “file:2173860 Trade and markets in precapitalist states,” in Economic anthropology. Stuart Plattner (ed). Stanford University Press, 78-107.
Late Bronze Age in the Eastern Mediterranean: states, entrepreneurs and the circulation of goods
- Knapp, A. Bernard and John F. Cherry; 1994. “file:2175497 Production and exchange in the Bronze Age Mediterranean” in Provenience studies and Bronze Age Cyprus. Production, exchange and politico-economic change. Madison Wisconsin: Prehistory Press, 123-155.
Achaemenid state and the idea of the tribute
- Briant, Pierre; 2002. file:2171233 "Royal assesments and tribute" and "file:2174953 Subject populations and tribute economy" in From Cyrus to Alexander : a history of the Persian Empire. Trans. Peter T. Daniels. Winona Lake, Ind.: Eisenbrauns, 388-421 and 800-813.
- Persepolis resources
Presentation: Achaemenid tributary system (Erin)
- Briant, Pierre; 2002. From Cyrus to Alexander : a history of the Persian Empire. Trans. Peter T. Daniels. Winona Lake, Ind.: Eisenbrauns, chapter 11.
- Sancisi-Weerdenburg, Heleen; 1989. “Gifts in the Persian Empire,” in Le tribut dans l’Empire Perse. Actes de la Table ronde de Paris 12-13 Décembre 1986. Louvain-Paris: Peeters, 129-146.
Further reading- additional bibliography
- Zaccagnini, Carlo; 1987. “Aspects of ceremonial exchange in the Near East during the late second millennium B.C.,” in Centre and periphery in the ancient world. Michael Rowlands, Morgens Larsen, Kristian Kristiansen (eds.); Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 57-65.
- Knapp, A Bernard; 1992. “Independence and imperialism: politico-economic structures in the Bronze Age Levant” in Archaeology, Annales, and ethnohistory. A. Bernard Knapp (ed.). Cambridge ; New York : Cambridge University Press.
- Feldman, Marian H; 2006. Diplomacy by design: luxury arts and an "international style" in the ancient Near East 1400-1200 BCE. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Week 7. October 18
Political landscapes: the habitus of the people, habitus of the state. Territoriality, landscape transformation and cultural change. State projects of legibility and simplification.
Discussion.
Readings:
- Smith, Adam; 2003. The Political Landscape: Constellations of Authority in Early Complex Polities. University of California Press. (Bookstore has copies, it is also on reserve at the Rock and e-book online.
- Read "Archaeologies of political authority" (78-111) and "Polities" (149-183).
- Given, Michael; 2004. "
Unknown File" and "Unknown File" in The archaeology of the colonized. Routledge: London and New York, 8-25 and 49-68.
- Scott, James C.; 1998. "Unknown File" in Seeing Like a State: How Certain Schemes to Improve the Human Condition Have Failed. New Haven: Yale University Press, 11-52.
Presentation: Celtic settlement in the Anatolian landscape during the Hellenistic period (Brad)
- Mitchell, Stephen; 1993. “The Celts in Anatolia,” Anatolia: land, men, and gods in Asia Minor. Volume I: the Celts in Anatolia and the impact of Roman rule. Clarendon Press: Oxford., 11-26 and 42-58. (This is on our shelf at the Institute Library)
- Strobel, Karl; 2002. “file:2176125 State formation by the Galatians of Asia Minor: politico-historical and cultural processes in Hellenistic Central Anatolia,” Anatolica 28: 1-46.
Further reading- additional bibliography
- Cherry, John F.; 1987. “Power in space: archaeological and geographical studies of the state,” in Landscape and culture: geographical and archaeological perspectives. J.M. Wagstaff (ed.); Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 146-172.
- Postgate, J. Nicholas; 1992. “The Land of Assur and the Yoke of Assur” World Archaeology 23/3.: 247-263.
Week 8. October 25
Spectacles: poetics of power, performance of the state. Places and the located practices of inscribing the landscape.
Discussion.
Readings:
Please go to the Passworded Page for downloading the articles.
- Mitchell, Timothy; 1999. "Society, economy and the state effect" in State/culture: State-Formation After the Cultural Turn. George Steinmetz (ed.). Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 76-97.
- Debord, Guy; 1994. The society of the spectacle. New York : Zone Books. Excerpts.
- Inomata, Takeshi and Lawrence S. Coben; 2006. “Overture: an invitation to the archaeological theater,” in Archaeology of performance: theaters of power, community, and politics. Takeshi Inomata and Lawrenbce S. Coben (eds.). Lanham: Altamira Press., 11-44.
- Kaye, Nick; 2000. "Introduction: site-specifics" in Site-specific art: performance, place and documentation. Routledge: London and New York, 1-12
- Massey, Doreen; 2005. "The elusiveness of place" and "throwntogetherness: the politics of the event of place" in For space. London: Sage, 130-162.
- Evans, John G; 2003. "Text, monuments and land," in Environmental archaeology and social order. Routledge: London and New York, 148-171.
Presentation: Rock reliefs and spring sanctuaries of Late Bronze and early Iron age Anatolia (Omur)
Further reading- additional bibliography
- Dovey, Kim; 1999. "Place" in Framing places: mediating power in built form. Routledge: London and New York, 39-52.
- Koontz, Rex; Kathryn Reese-Taylor, Annabeth Headrick (eds).; 2001. Landscape and power in ancient Mesoamerica. Boulder, Colorado : Westview Press.
- Morris, Ian; 1993. “Poetics of power: the interpretation of ritual action in archaic Greece.” In Cultural Poetics in Archaic Greece: Tyranny, Cult, and Civic Ideology, edited by Carol Dougherty and Leslie Kurke. Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press, 15-45.
October 26: Friday, 10 am. Place TBA. One hour conference with Norman Yoffee on Myths of the archaic state : evolution of the earliest cities, states and civilizations
Week 9. November 1
Incorporations: State practices on the body and the everyday. Bodily violence and the state. Body as the site of state discourse.
Readings:
- Foucault, Michel; 2006. "Governmentality" in Anthropology of the state: a reader. Akhil Gupta (ed.). Malden MA: Blackwell, 131-143.
- Foucault, Michel; 2006. "Body/power" in Power/knowledge: selected interviews and other writings 1972-1977. Colin Gordon (ed). Pantheon Books: New York, 55-62.
- Joyce, Rosemary; 2005. “Archaeology of the body,” Annual Review of Anthropology 34: 139-158.
- Richardson, Seth; 2007. “Death and Dismemberment in Mesopotamia: Discorporation between the Body and Body Politic,” in Performing Death:Social Analyses of Funerary Traditions in the Ancient Near East and Mediterranean (=Oriental Institute Seminars 3). Nicola Laneri (ed). Chicago, 189-208.
Presentation: Body, bodily image and everyday life in New Kingdom Egypt (Alex)
- Meskell, Lynn; 2002. Private life in New Kingdom Egypt. Princeton University Press.
- Meskell, Lynn; 1999. Archaeologies of Social Life: Age, Sex, Class Et Cetera in Ancient Egypt. Malden MA: Blackwell.
Further reading- additional bibliography
- Herzfeld, Michael; 2004. "Schooling the body" in The body impolitic: artisans and artifice in the global hierarchy of value. The University of Chicago Press: Chicago, 37-60.
- Mauss, Marcel; 1973 (1935). "Techniques of the body," Economy and society 2: 1-34.
- Gell, Alfred; 1993. Wrapping in images: tattooing in Polynesia. Oxford: Clarendan Press.
- Cifarelli, Megan; 1998. “Gesture and Alterity in the Art of Ashurnasirpal II of Assyria,” Art Bulletin 80: 210-228.
Week 10 November 8
Narrativity and violence as imperial discourse: the visual and textual culture of the state or appropriation of cultural practices. Constructions of collective memory. Role of monumental inscriptions, place-making practices and monuments.
Discussion
Readings:
- Agamben, Giorgio; 2005. The state of exception. The university of Chicago Press. Excerpts.
- White, Hayden; 1987. “The value of narrativity in the representation of reality,” in The content of the form: narrative discourse and historical representation. The Johns Hopkins University Press: Baltimore, 1-25.
- Liverani, Mario; 1979. “The ideology of the Assyrian empire,” in Power and propaganda: a symposium on ancient empires. Morgens Trolle Larsen (ed.), Copenhagen, 297-317.
- Lumsden; Stephen; 2004. “Narrative art and empire: The throneroom of Assurnasirpal,” in Assyria and beyond: Studies presented to Morgens Trolle Larsen. J. G. Dercksen (ed.). Nederlands Instituut voor het Nabije Oosten, 359-386.
Presentation: The throneroom of Assurnasirpal: narrativity and violence (Bochay?)
- Winter, Irene J.; 1981. “Royal rhetoric and the development of historical narrative in Neo-Assyrian reliefs”, Studies in Visual Communication 7: 2-38.
- Bersani, Leo and Ulysse Dutoit; 1985. The forms of violence: narrative in Assyrian art and modern culture. New York: Schocken Books.
Further reading- additional bibliography
- Holliday, Peter; 2002. The origins of Roman historical commemoration in the visual arts. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
- Holliday, Peter J. (ed.); 1993. Narrative and event in ancient art. Cambridge and New York, Cambridge University Press.
November 15 ASOR Annual Meetings- No class.
November 21-25 Thanksgiving Recess- No class
Week 11. November 29
The demise of the state (and the end of macro models): micro-historical deconstruction of state-based approaches to the ancient world in the social sciences.
Discussion
Readings:
- Das, Veena and Deborah Poole; 2004. "State and its margins: comparative ethnographies," in Anthropology in the Margins of the State. Veena Das and Deborah Poole (eds.). Sar Press, 3-34.
- Bartelson, Jens; 2001. “The spirit of criticism” in The critique of the state. Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press, 1-29.
Week 12. December 6
Presentation of Individual Projects (Paper Drafts due)-perhaps 2 meetings will be scheduled that week, depending on the number of projects.
December 20. Final papers due.
