Early State Economics (Political and Legal Anthropology)

348 Pages·1991·18.89 MB·English

by  Henri Claessen

EARLY STATE ECONOMICS
Political and Legal Anthropology Series
Myron Aronoff, Series Editor
Ideology and Interest, The Dialectics of Politics, Volume 1, Myron J. Aronoff,
editor. 1980.
Culture and Political Change, Volume 2, Myron J. Aronoff, editor. 1982.
Religion and Politics, Volume 3, Myron J. Aronoff, editor. 1983.
Cross-Currents in Israeli Culture and Politics, Volume 4, Myron J. Aronoff,
editor. 1984.
Frailty of Authority, Volume 5, Myron J. Aronoff, editor. 1986.
State Formation and Political Legitimacy, Volume 6, Ronald Cohen and
Judith D. Toland, editors. 1988.
Outwitting the State, Volume 7, Peter Skalnik, editor. 1989.
Early State Economics, Volume 8, Henri J.M. Claessen and
Pieter van de Velde, editors. 1991.
Political and Legal Anthropology
Volume 8
EARLY STATE ECONOMICS
Edited by
Henri J.M. Claessen and Pieter van de Velde
O Routledge
jj> Taylor & Francis Group
LONDON AND NEW YORK
First published 1991 by Transaction Publishers
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Library of Congress Catalog Number: 90-11294
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Early state economics / edited by Henri J.M. Claessen and Pieter van de Velde.
p. cm—(The Association for political and legal anthropology; vol. 8)
Papers from the Conference on “the Political Economy of the Early State”,
held during the 12th International Congress of Anthropological and Ethnological
Sciences at Zagreb, Yugoslavia, July 28 and 30, 1988.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Economic anthropology—Congresses. 2. Society, Primitive
Congresses. 3. Economics, Prehistoric-Congresses. I. Claessen, H. J. M.
II. Velde, Pieter van de. III. Conference on “the Political Economy of the
Early State” (1988 : Zagreb, Croatia) IV. Series.
GN448.E25 1991
306.3—dc20 90-11294
CIP
ISBN 13: 978-0-88738-885-9 (pbk)
ISBN 13: 978-0-88738-402-8 (hbk)
Contents
Preface
Introduction
Henri J. M. Claessen and Pieter van de Velde
1. The ABCs of Political Economy
M. Estellie Smith
2. The Segmentary State: From the Imaginary to the
Material Means of Production
Aidan Southall
3. The Political Economy of the Interlacustrine States
in East Africa
Albert A. Trouwborst
4. Paradise Regained: Myth and Reality in the
Political Economy of the Early State
Ronald Cohen
5. Wolof Economy and Political Organization: The
West African Coast in the Mid-Fifteenth Century
Michal Tymowski
6. Early State Economics: Cahokia, Capital of the
Ramey State
Patricia J. O’Brien
7. Tribute and Commerce in Imperial Cities: The
Case of Xaltocan, Mexico
Elizabeth M. Brumfiel
8. Gift and Tribute: Relations of Dependency in
Aztec Mexico
Federic Hicks
9. Divide and Pool: Early State Economics and the
Classic Maya
Rien Ploeg
vi Contents
10. State and Community: Changing Relations of 231
Production after the Unification of Nepal
Joanna Pfaff-Czarnecka
11. The Political Economy of an Early State: Hawaii 265
and Samoa Compared
Martin A. van Bakel
12. State and Economy in Polynesia 291
Henri J. M. Claessen
List of Contributors 327
Index 329
Preface
The foundations for this volume were laid during the conference
on The Political Economy of the Early State which was held
during the Twelfth International Congress of Anthropological and
Ethnological Sciences at Zagreb, Yugoslavia, July 28 and 30,
1988. For two days, an international group of scholars discussed
a series of papers on problems of the (political) economy of the
early state. It there appeared useful to place the phenomenon of
political economy in the wider frame of the economy of the early
state in general. This approach is, therefore, followed in this
volume too. In order to better relate the papers to each other,
the editors wrote an introduction, in which several of the problems
that were discussed during the Zagreb meetings were placed in a
wider perspective.
We greatly regret that not all colleagues who accepted our
invitation to participate in the conference actually attended. For
various reasons Dr. hab. Michal Tymowski (University of War­
saw, Poland), Professor Ronald Cohen (University of Florida at
Gainesville, U.S.), and Dr. Edward Ch.L. van der Vliet (Uni­
versity of Groningen, The Netherlands) could not join us. Their
papers, however, were presented in Zagreb. It was possible for
the papers of Cohen and Tymowski to be included in the volume.
We are proud that, apart from those whose papers have been
gathered into this volume, a large number of scholars attended
our conference and contributed to the discussions. We would like
to mention in this connection especially Professor Donald V.
Kurtz (University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee, U.S.), Professor
Edward I. Steinhart (Texas Tech University at Lubbock, U.S.),
Dr. Peter Skalnik (University of Cape Town, South Africa), Dr.
Thomas Bargatzky (University of Munich, G.F.R.), Professor
Dietrich Treide (University of Leipzig, G.D.R.), Professor Jean-
vii
viii Preface
Claude Muller (University of Montreal, Canada), and Dr. Hans-
Jiirgen Hildebrandt (Deutsche Forschungs Gemeinschaft, G.F.R.).
As usual, it is impossible to name all who have contributed in
some way to the realization of this book. From them we want to
mention especially Dr. Franklin Tjon Sie Fat for his help in many
ways. Our sincere thanks to Peter Deunhouwer of the Institute
for Prehistory (University of Leiden) for making most of the maps
and figures for us.
The editors feel honored by the positive judgement of the man­
uscript by the editor of the Political Anthropology Yearbook, and
by its acceptance by Transaction Publishers for publication.
Henri J.M. Claessen
Pieter van de Velde
University of Leiden
Introduction
Henri J. M. Claessen and Pieter van de Velde
The Problem
This book discusses the political economy of early states. Cen­
tral in the discussion will be an analysis of the ways in which the
income of the central government is organized. This will be dis­
cussed in connection with the ways in which the income is spent
by those in government. These movements, in turn, will have to
be placed against the economy of early states in general, for
without some insight in the general situation the specific problems
of political economy cannot be understood clearly.
This way of approaching political economy is reflected in the
contributions to this volume. Three of the chapters have a more
theoretical or general approach, to which we will return presently,
and the other nine concentrate on specific early states or regions.
In some respects this collection seems composed in a rather hap­
hazard way: the cases discussed are mainly from Africa, Poly­
nesia, and the Americas; the only case from Asia is the chapter
on Nepal by Joanna Pfaff-Czarnecka. The American cases com­
prise a discussion of only archaeologically known Cahokia by
Patricia O’Brien, two chapters on the highly developed Aztec
Empire by Elizabeth Brumfiel and Frederic Hicks, and a chapter
on the Maya by Rien Ploeg. Two of the African cases form the
ethnographic core in more general chapters by Aidan Southall
1