Dr. Feinman Publishes New Book
Dr. Gary Feinman (MacArthur Curator of Mesoamerican, Central American, and East Asian Anthropology at The Field Museum and Adjunct Professor of Anthropology at UIC) has published a new book in the Cambridge Elements series. The book, entitled “Collective Action and the Reframing of Early Mesoamerica" (Cambridge Elements: Cambridge, 2023) by David M. Carballo and Gary M. Feinman, is free for download through January 25, 2024.
Here is a brief description of the book:
Chapter 1 provides an overview of issues that can be studied archaeologically including resource management, governance, and the institutions and infrastructure promoting collective action, including deliberative spaces. Chapter 2 turns to Mesoamerica and the institutions of collective labor and modular social units that created large-scale formations (cities, states) known from the ethnohistoric and ethnographic records. Chapter 3 moves back in time to consider the archaeological record. We propose the need to abandon overly simplistic associations between monumental construction and autocratic governance. Chapter 4 looks for lessons from the past for the present.
Modified on January 13, 2024