Paradoxical Politics: Negotiating the Contradictions of Political Authority

Kurnick, Sarah

doi:10.5876/9781607324164.c001

Cited by 8 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 9 publications

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“…These small-scale focal nodes may be especially crucial to the integration of low-density urban societies. In the Maya lowlands, even small neighborhoods and rural settlements typically have an area designated for collective gatherings and activities (e.g., Connell 2010; Ingalls 2017, 2020; Kurnick 2013).…”

Section: Focal Nodes Public Spaces and Practices Of Affiliationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Focal Nodes and Ritual Economy in Ancient Maya Hinterland Communities: A Case Study From San Lorenzo, Belize

Ingalls

Yaeger

2022

Ancient Mesoam

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Public structures in the Maya region materialize ideologies and define centers of power as they create politically charged sacred landscapes. These locations are focal nodes for community and polity making processes, embedding social hierarchies, ideologies, and social memories into the physical landscape. Archaeologists, however, have historically focused little attention on small-scale focal nodes within rural communities. To explore the ways hinterland or rural communities may integrate and articulate with larger heartland seats of power, this article examines one such public group at the hinterland site of San Lorenzo, Belize. Drawing from studies of integrative features, we explore practices of affiliation from the Late Preclassic through the Terminal Classic periods and the ways they are expressed at a civic-ceremonial community space through ritual economy. Focal nodes facilitated the face-to-face interactions that were necessary for community integration and the practices enacted within such spaces allow associated groups to negotiate and display their status within the community and to larger regional polities.

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Section: Focal Nodes Public Spaces and Practices Of Affiliationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Focal Nodes and Ritual Economy in Ancient Maya Hinterland Communities: A Case Study From San Lorenzo, Belize

Ingalls

Yaeger

2022

Ancient Mesoam

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“…These households quarried limestone, as well as participating in agricultural activities, and in some cases, other types of crafting such as lithic (Hearth 2012) or shell production (Keller 2012). Furthermore, the presence of some chert debitage in most households in the UBRV suggests households produced some of their own tools that then would have been used for subsistence activities including farming and food preparation (Kurnick 2013; Peuramaki-Brown 2012; Robin 1999; VandenBosch 1999; Yaeger 2010a, 2010b). More instances of craft production in the UBRV probably occurred but would have utilized perishable materials that are not archaeologically preserved, such as basketry or cloth production (see Cap [2019] for a discussion of spindle whorls).…”

Section: Regional Background: Ubrvmentioning

confidence: 99%

Reducing Risk: Maya Lithic Production and Economic Diversification at Callar Creek Quarry, Belize

Horowitz

2021

Ancient Mesoam

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The role of craft producers in past economies provides information that helps contextualize the role of economies in broader sociopolitical systems. Through this examination of lowland Maya lithic producers in the Late to Terminal Classic period (a.d. 600–890), this article explores the centrality of economic activities in integrating craft producers into larger regional political communities and simultaneously buffering them against regional political conflicts. Through a study of lithic extraction and production at Callar Creek Quarry, Belize, this article examines the relevance of crafting activities in the minimization of economic uncertainty. These data indicate that lithic reduction served to diversify economic activities for lithic producers, and thus minimized economic risk. The use of economic activity to minimize risk provides evidence for the continuity of small-scale householders. This illustrates the independence of economic activities from political frameworks, and suggests that economic diversification serves as a critical stabilizing force for rural Classic-period Maya residents.

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“…Drawing on various scholars including those noted above, several archaeologists have suggested that contradictions fueled social changes in past societies [25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33]. Christopher Tilley [31], for instance, has argued that differences between represented and actual social relationships led to the collapse of the hegemonic social order in middle Neolithic southern Sweden.…”

Section: Contradictions and Engaged Archaeologymentioning

confidence: 99%

The Contradictions of Engaged Archaeology at Punta Laguna, Yucatan, Mexico

Kurnick

2020

Heritage

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Engaged archaeology, like other forms of research, is replete with contradictions. Over the last several years, members of the Punta Laguna Archaeology Project—a community-based endeavor in Yucatan, Mexico—have encountered and sought to address several paradoxical questions. Do attempts to mitigate certain forms of inequality unintentionally sustain other forms of inequality? Can the production of capital alleviate rather than exacerbate unequal social relationships? And, can Western social theories be marshalled to advocate for and increase Maya and other Indigenous perspectives in archaeology? This article examines these contradictory questions and analyzes them as potential sources of dialectical change. To conclude, the article suggests three new foci for engaged archaeology: intersectionality, control, and authoritative speech.

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Paradoxical Politics: Negotiating the Contradictions of Political Authority

Cited by 8 publications

References 9 publications

Focal Nodes and Ritual Economy in Ancient Maya Hinterland Communities: A Case Study From San Lorenzo, Belize

Focal Nodes and Ritual Economy in Ancient Maya Hinterland Communities: A Case Study From San Lorenzo, Belize

Reducing Risk: Maya Lithic Production and Economic Diversification at Callar Creek Quarry, Belize

The Contradictions of Engaged Archaeology at Punta Laguna, Yucatan, Mexico

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