Political anthropology: an introduction

276 Pages·2003·1.87 MB·English

by  Ted C. Lewellen

Political Anthropology

POLITICAL
ANTHROPOLOGY
An Introduction
Third Edition
Ted C. Lewellen
Foreword by Victor Turner,
Written for the First Edition
LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
Lewellen,TedC.,1940–
Politicalanthropology:anintroduction/TedC.Lewellen;forewordtothefirstedition
byVictorTurner.—3rded.
p. cm.
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
ISBN0–89789–890–7(alk.paper)—ISBN0–89789–891–5(pbk.:alk.paper)
1.Politicalanthropology. I.Title.
GN492.L48 2003
306.2—dc21 2003052889
BritishLibraryCataloguinginPublicationDataisavailable.
Copyright(cid:1)2003byTedC.Lewellen
Allrightsreserved.Noportionofthisbookmaybe
reproduced,byanyprocessortechnique,withoutthe
expresswrittenconsentofthepublisher.
LibraryofCongressCatalogCardNumber:2003052889
ISBN:0–89789–890–7
0–89789–891–5(pbk.)
Firstpublishedin2003
PraegerPublishers,88PostRoadWest,Westport,CT06881
AnimprintofGreenwoodPublishingGroup,Inc.
www.praeger.com
PrintedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica
Thepaperusedinthisbookcomplieswiththe
PermanentPaperStandardissuedbytheNational
InformationStandardsOrganization(Z39.48–1984).
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
CONTENTS
Foreword, Written for the First Edition vii
Victor Turner
Preface ix
1. The Development of Political Anthropology 1
2. Types of Preindustrial Political Systems 15
3. The Evolution of the State 43
4. Religion in Politics: Sacred Legitimacy, Divine Resistance 65
5. Structure and Process 81
6. The Individual in the Political Arena: Action Theory and
Game Theory 95
7. The Power of the People: Resistance and Rebellion 111
8. Gender and Power 131
9. The Politics of Identity: Ethnicity and Nationalism 159
10. Modernism, Postmodernism, and the Emerging Synthesis 181
11. From Modernization to Globalization 201
vi CONTENTS
Glossary 227
Bibliography 235
Index 255
FOREWORD TO THE FIRST
EDITION
Victor Turner
(1920–1983)
In this succinct and lucid account of the sporadic growth of political
anthropology over the past four decades, Ted Lewellen traces the devel-
opment of its theoretical structure and the personal contributions of its
main formulators. He makes available to the wider public of educated
readers the issues, problems, perplexities, and achievements of political
anthropologists as they have striven to make sense of the multitudinous
waysinwhichsocietiesonvaryinglevelsofscaleandcomplexityhandle
order and dispute, both internal and external. He assesses the strengths
and probes the weaknesses of successive anthropological approaches to
the study of political structures and processes, viewed both cross-cultur-
ally and in terms of intensive case studies. The result is a commendable
guide to the varied sources of this increasingly important subdiscipline,
a guide which, as far as I know, is unique of its kind; his criticisms are
sharp, his style genial, and his judgments just. As a student of the first
generation of British political anthropologists of the structural-function-
alist school, and a teacher of the medial generation of Americanpolitical
anthropologists, I can vouch for the accuracy and balance of Professor
Lewellen’s conclusions, and applaud the penetration of his criticisms,
even when they are directed at positions promoted by those of my own
theoretical persuasion.
Professor Lewellen states candidly that he has not written a textbook.
Indeed, most textbooks are bulkier and overcharged with disparate ma-
terials, mainly descriptive. But this concise book is theoretically fine-
viii FOREWORD
honedandminutelyintegrated.Itseemstobetheintroductiontopolitical
anthropology that we have all been waiting for, the prism which accu-
rately segregates the significant constituents. Not only students, but also
seasoned scholars will find worth in it. It is at once a summation and a
new start.
PREFACE
This book had its origins in 1980 when a sociologist friend who was
editing the multivolume Handbook of Political Behavior asked me to
supply the entry on Political Anthropology. My protestations that I knew
no more about the subject than any other budding anthropologist fell on
deaf ears. He wanted nothing fancy or even particularly erudite, just a
workmanlike overview of the subject matter and theoretical orientation
of thesubdiscipline.Howhardcouldthatbe?Barelyayearoutofgradu-
ate school and in need of publications to beef up an emaciated vitae, I
finally agreed to do it. I thought I could seek out a few overview books
and an encyclopedia article or two on the subject, peruse the most im-
portant works in the bibliography, and write it up in short order. This
was not to be the case. It quickly became evident that no remotely com-
prehensive overview book or article existed. There was no shortage of
works with “political anthropology” in their titles, but most were theo-
retically narrow, and thosethatdid attempt somesortofsummationwere
incomplete or hopelessly out of date. The unfortunate reality was that
political anthropology existed mainly in widely scattered ethnographies
andtheoreticalwritingsthathadlittletodowitheachother.WhatRonald
Cohen (1970: 484) had written a decade earlier was still true: “There
are, as yet, no well-established conventions as to what [political anthro-
pology] includes or excludes or what should bethe basicmethodological
attack on the subject.” There even seemed to be some doubt that there
was such a thing as political anthropology: in a 1959 review article,