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Wed 24 March
    8:30
    10:45
    14:15
    16:30

Thu 25 March
    8:30
    10:45
    14:15
    16:30

Fri 26 March
    8:30
    10:45
    14.15
    16.30

Sat 27 March
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    10:45
    14:15
    16:30

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Wednesday 24 March 2004 14:15
R-3 ANT01 Comparative approaches to the study of ancient and pre-modern states
Room S
Network: Antiquity Chair: Neville Morley
Organizer: Walter Scheidel Discussants: -
Peter Fibiger Bang : Segmentary empire: Mughals and Romans compared
The aim of this paper is to achieve a less unitary understanding of the Roman imperial state.

The paper seeks to apply Burton Stein's model of the segmentary state in India to the Roman empire. It will explore how local patrimonial elites acquired a "share" of the imperial state - in ... (Show more)
The aim of this paper is to achieve a less unitary understanding of the Roman imperial state.

The paper seeks to apply Burton Stein's model of the segmentary state in India to the Roman empire. It will explore how local patrimonial elites acquired a "share" of the imperial state - in some sense became the state - through the administration of the imperial system, e.g. by emperor worship, receiving of imperial distinctions and recognition etc. (Show less)

Khaled Hakami : Kinship and Evolution: Roman and Irish Society Compared
Roman Kinship is one of the oldest and most controversial topics in anthropological theory. Partly instrumentalized at the heyday of early evolutionism, it remained to be important in times of synchronic studies as a part of Roman Law. In modern cultural studies neither evolutionary nor kinship theory appear to be ... (Show more)
Roman Kinship is one of the oldest and most controversial topics in anthropological theory. Partly instrumentalized at the heyday of early evolutionism, it remained to be important in times of synchronic studies as a part of Roman Law. In modern cultural studies neither evolutionary nor kinship theory appear to be important as a research strategy. In fact this has to do with the establishment of post-modern theories in anthropology and the development of wider paradigms, that ignore the epistemological and theoretical principles of the former and dismiss the complexity of the latter, although meanwhile especially in evolutionary theory there are approaches that go beyond monocausal explanations and offer more context-sensitive interpretations of social and cultural change.
Nevertheless some „young“ disciplines still deal with more complex and evolutionary theories – in fact, here the search for paradigms is still in progress. Especially studies in bronze- and iron-age-societies of the Celtic area, which try to offer both, synchronic and diachronic approaches, have proven to be a good example also for the study in other ancient cultures. The search for nomothetic issues in early Irish society marks just only one approach in this field, but it clearly shows the need for anthropological theory. In fact those kind of theories dealing with deterministic axioms, as for example causal relations between trade and alliance or control of production and stratification analysed partly on the basis of kinship terminology, are extremely complex and should not be applied without any concern – so of course this models too have to be proven.
In comparison, evolutionary (means non-historical) approaches to roman society are mostly missing, partly due to the reluctance to use the mentioned strategies and partly due to the belief in the universal applicability of historical methods. But to abandon this approaches, in my view, is more a kind of ignoring the complexity of human culture, rather than a solution to concrete problems. This paper seeks for factors in this evolution, including „classical“ elements like kinship, warfare and trade – beyond the implications of simplistic evolutionism, but dealing with thoughts on Irish society and in a strictly comparative way. Because kinship studies have proven to be useful in context of questions on stratification and complexity, I will offer a kind of bottom-up-perspective on the evolution of Roman society in contrast to empire-centred and teleological prejudices on pre-state-societies. (Show less)

Joe Manning : The “hydraulic” state, social power and state formation: Egypt and China, and the contraction of the Wittfogel thesis
I discuss in this paper the well-known “Oriental Despotism” Wittfogel thesis of the Asian state which draws a strong correlation between the control of irrigation networks and strongly centralized state power. The thesis has been rejected in many quarters over the last twenty years, with emphasis being shifted to agency, ... (Show more)
I discuss in this paper the well-known “Oriental Despotism” Wittfogel thesis of the Asian state which draws a strong correlation between the control of irrigation networks and strongly centralized state power. The thesis has been rejected in many quarters over the last twenty years, with emphasis being shifted to agency, i.e., on the relationship of local social networks to central state structure. Nevertheless, the explanatory power of the model survives in subtle ways, and affects both models of rural social structure and of new state formation over the long-term history of both Egypt and China. The historical comparison of Egypt and China affords the opportunity to assess causal factors in state formation, rural production, and the role of private property in early Asian states. I examine the relationship of land holding to taxation and the relationships between the central state, local social networks and water with respect to early Egypt and China in this paper, and I offer a way forward in understanding the historical comparison between Asian and European states. (Show less)

Walter Scheidel : Coercion, capital, and ancient Mediterranean states: expanding the Tilly thesis
Drawing on the work of Tilly, Ertman, Spruyt and others, this paper explores the question of how recent studies of state formation in medieval and early modern Europe may improve our understanding of comparable processes that occurred in the Mediterranean region in antiquity.



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