Political Economy, Neoliberalism, and the Prehistoric Economies of Latin America

346 Pages·2012·6.91 MB·English

by  Ty Matejowsky, Donald C. Wood

POLITICAL ECONOMY,
NEOLIBERALISM, AND THE
PREHISTORIC ECONOMIES
OF LATIN AMERICA
RESEARCH IN ECONOMIC
ANTHROPOLOGY
Series Editor: Donald C. Wood
Recent Volumes:
Volume 20: ResearchinEconomicAnthropology–EditedbyB.L.Isaac
Volume 21: Social Dimensions in the Economic Process – Edited by
N. Dannhaeuser and C. Werner
Volume 22: Anthropological Perspectives on Economic Development
andIntegration–EditedbyN.DannhaeuserandC.Werner
Volume 23: Socioeconomic Aspects of Human Behavioral Ecology –
Edited by M. Alvard
Volume 24: Markets and Market Liberalization: Ethnographic
Reflections – Edited by N. Dannhaeuser and C. Werner
Volume 25: Choice in Economic Contexts: Ethnographic and
Theoretical Enquiries – Edited by D. Wood
Volume 26: The Economics of Health and Wellness: Anthropological
Perspectives – Edited by D. Wood
Volume 27: DimensionofRitualEconomy–EditedbyP.McAnanyand
E. C. Wells
Volume 28: Hidden Hands in the Market: Ethnographies of Fair Trade,
EthicalConsumption andCorporateSocialResponsibility–
Edited by Donald Wood, Jeffrey Pratt, Peter Luetchford,
and Geert De Neve
Volume 29: Economic Development, Integration, and Morality in Asia
and the Americas – Edited by Donald C. Wood
Volume 30: Economic Action in Theory and Practice: Anthropological
Investigations – Edited by Donald C. Wood
Volume 31: The Economics of Religion: Anthropological Approaches –
Edited by Lionel Obadia & Donald C. Wood
RESEARCHINECONOMICANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME32
POLITICAL ECONOMY,
NEOLIBERALISM, AND
THE PREHISTORIC
ECONOMIES OF LATIN
AMERICA
EDITED BY
TY MATEJOWSKY
Department of Anthropology,
University of Central Florida, Orlando, FL, USA
DONALD C. WOOD
Department of Medical Information Science,
Akita University Graduate School of Medicine,
Akita, Japan
United Kingdom – North America – Japan
India – Malaysia – China
EmeraldGroupPublishingLimited
HowardHouse,WagonLane,BingleyBD161WA,UK
Firstedition2012
Copyrightr2012EmeraldGroupPublishingLimited
Reprintsandpermissionservice
Contact:[email protected]
Nopartofthisbookmaybereproduced,storedinaretrievalsystem,transmittedinany
formorbyanymeanselectronic,mechanical,photocopying,recordingorotherwise
withouteitherthepriorwrittenpermissionofthepublisheroralicencepermitting
restrictedcopyingissuedintheUKbyTheCopyrightLicensingAgencyandintheUSA
byTheCopyrightClearanceCenter.Anyopinionsexpressedinthechaptersarethose
oftheauthors.WhilstEmeraldmakeseveryefforttoensurethequalityandaccuracyof
itscontent,Emeraldmakesnorepresentationimpliedorotherwise,astothechapters’
suitabilityandapplicationanddisclaimsanywarranties,expressorimplied,totheiruse.
BritishLibraryCataloguinginPublicationData
AcataloguerecordforthisbookisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary
ISBN:978-1-78190-058-1
ISSN:0190-1281(Series)
CONTENTS
LIST OF CONTRIBUTORS vii
PREFACE ix
UNDERSTANDING INTERSECTIONS OF
DEVELOPMENT, NEOLIBERALISM, AND
PREHISTORIC ECONOMIES: AN OVERVIEW
OF REA VOLUME 32
Donald C. Wood and Ty Matejowsky xiii
PART I: VIEWING THE POLITICAL ECONOMY
SWEATSHOP EXCHANGES: GIFTS AND GIVING IN
THE GLOBAL FACTORY
Jamie Cross 3
SEEKING ABUNDANCE: CONSUMPTION AS A
MOTIVATING FACTOR IN CITIES PAST AND
PRESENT
Monica L. Smith 27
ECONOMIC ANTHROPOLOGY AFTER THE GREAT
DEBATE: THE ROLE AND EVOLUTION OF
INSTITUTIONALIST THOUGHT
Justin A. Elardo 53
PROTESTANT ETHIC AND PROSPERITY:
VEGETABLE PRODUCTION IN ALMOLONGA,
GUATEMALA
Andre´s Marroquı´n Gramajo and Luis Noel Alfaro 85
v
vi CONTENTS
SIMPLE FINANCIAL ECONOMIC MODELS OF
PREHISTORIC FREMONT MAIZE STORAGE AND
AN ASSESSMENT OF EXTERNAL THREAT
Kerk L. Phillips and Renee Barlow 109
PART II: CRITIQUES OF NEOLIBERALISM
OF COYOTES, CROSSINGS, AND COOPERATION:
SOCIAL CAPITAL AND WOMEN’S MIGRATION
AT THE MARGINS OF THE STATE
Anna Ochoa O’Leary 133
CULTURETRUMPSREASON:HOWWALLSTREET
MANIPULATEDTHEAMERICANDREAMTOENRICH
ITSELFANDWHYTHEVICTIMSOFTHESCAMWERE
PUTOUTONTHESTREETWHILETHEPERPETRATORS
WERERESCUEDBYTHEGOVERNMENT
Sidney M. Greenfield 161
PART III: PREHISTORIC ECONOMIES OF
LATIN AMERICA
A THEORY OF THE ANCIENT MESOAMERICAN
ECONOMY
Stephen A. Kowalewski 187
THELATEPREHISPANICECONOMYOFTHE
VALLEYOFOAXACA,MEXICO:WEAVINGTHREADS
FROMDATA,THEORY,ANDSUBSEQUENTHISTORY
Gary M. Feinman and Linda M. Nicholas 225
WEALTH ON THE HOOF: CAMELID FAUNAL
REMAINS AND SUBSISTENCE PRACTICES IN
JACHAKALA, BOLIVIA
Christine Beaule 259
INTERREGIONAL INTERACTION AND SOCIAL
CHANGE AT EL DORNAJO
Sarah R. Taylor 291
LIST OF CONTRIBUTORS
Luis Noel Alfaro INCAE Business School, Managua,
Nicaragua
Renee Barlow College of Eastern Utah Prehistoric
Museum, Utah State University, Price, UT,
USA
Christine Beaule Department of Languages and Literatures
of Europe and the Americas, University
of Hawai’i at Manoa, Honolulu, HI, USA
Jamie Cross Department of Social Anthropology,
University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh,
Scotland
Justin A. Elardo Social Sciences Department, Portland
Community College, Portland, OR, USA
Gary M. Feinman Department of Anthropology, The Field
Museum, Chicago, IL, USA
Andre´s Marroquı´n Department of Economics, Francisco
Gramajo Marroquı´n University, Guatemala City,
Guatemala
Sidney M. Department of Anthropology, University
Greenfield of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Milwaukee, WI,
USA
Stephen A. Department of Anthropology, University
Kowalewski of Georgia, Athens, GA, USA
Ty Matejowsky Department of Anthropology, University
of Central Florida, Orlando, FL, USA
Linda M. Nicholas Department of Anthropology, The Field
Museum, Chicago, IL, USA
vii
viii LIST OFCONTRIBUTORS
Anna Ochoa Mexican American Studies Department,
O’Leary University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA
Kerk L. Phillips Department of Economics, Brigham Young
University, Provo, UT, USA
Monica L. Smith Department of Anthropology, University
of California at Los Angeles, CA, USA
Sarah R. Taylor Department of Social Sciences, Flagler
College, St. Augustine, FL, USA
Donald C. Wood DepartmentofMedicalInformationScience,
Akita University Graduate School of
Medicine, Akita, Japan
PREFACE
Four years ago I co-edited a book with Geert De Neve and two of his
colleagues at the University of Sussex – Jeff Pratt and Peter Luetchford.
The chapters had originally been presented at the Hidden Hands in the
Market workshop held at Sussex in April of 2007 and organized by Geert,
Jeff,andPeter.Afterhearing abouttheworkshop Iwrote toGeert, hoping
to scoop up a few bits of gold for REA, but as it turned out I had struck
the mother lode. Our co-edited book was Volume 28 of REA – Hidden
Hands in the Market: Ethnographies of Fair Trade, Ethical Consumption,
and Corporate Social Responsibility (2008) – one of the installments that
I remain proudest of, and the first REA volume under Emerald with which
I was directly involved. The volume explores the relationship between
producers and consumers, focusing on its moral and political content, in a
very broad sense.
Now I am pleased to introduce a new book that continues REA 28’s
legacy – Ethical Consumption: Social Value and Economic Practice
(Berghahn Books, 2012, 238pp.), edited by James Carrier and Peter
Luetchford, both of whom were involved with REA 28. As the editors of
EthicalConsumptionexplainintheirjointpreface,thevolume’soriginsliein
thesame2007workshopatSussexthatgavebirthtoREA28.Theirproject,
however, took a different form due to the influence of their continued
exploration of the topic of ethical consumption at the 2008 meeting of the
European Association of Social Anthropologists, which resulted in the
participationofnumerousresearcherswhohadnotcontributedtoREA28.
CarrierandLuetchford’snewvolumesharesmanyofREA28’sconcerns,
bringingthethemeofethicalconsumptiontotheforefront(hence,thetitle)
with its strong focus on the Fairtrade movement. In this way it differs
slightly from the REA volume, which was somewhat broader in scope.
However, it very well compliments its predecessor by expertly exploring
the ways in which alternative marketing systems and business models that
aspire to higher standards of morality often wind up being consumed by
theirmorepowerfulmainstreamcounterparts(towhichtheywereoriginally
opposed), and then used to boost the credibility of those systems and
models, and even to strengthen them. Examples include corporate social
responsibility(CSR)andfairtrademovementsthemselves.Inaddition,like
ix