Power, Political Economy, and Historical Landscapes of the Modern World: Interdisciplinary Perspectives

Description

Reveals how the expanding world-system entangled the non-western world in global economies, yet did so in ways that were locally articulated, varied, and, often, non-European in their expression.This interdisciplinary volume brings together a richly substantive collection of case studies that examine European-indigene interactions, economic relations, and their materialities in the formation of the modern world. Research has demonstrated the extent and complexity of the varied local economic and political systems, and diverse social formations that predated European contact. These preexisting systems articulated with the expanding European economy and, in doing so, shaped its emergence. Moving beyond the confines of national or Atlantic histories to examine regional systems and their historical trajectories on a global scale, the studies within this volume draw examples from the Caribbean, Mesoamerica, North America, South America, Africa, and South Asia. While the contributions are rooted in substantive studies from different world areas, their overarching aim is to negotiate between global and local frames, revealing how the expanding world-system entangled the non-Western world in global economies, yet did so in ways that were locally articulated, varied and, often, non-European in their expression.Christopher DeCorse is Professor of Anthropology at Syracuse University. He is the author of several books, including Anthropology: A Global Perspective and Anthropology: The Basics. Contents List of Illustrations Preface 1 Historical Landscapes of the Modern World Deep Time and Local Pasts Beyond Nations, Oceans, and Hemispheres8 Historical Landscapes of the Modern World Notes Works Cited 2 1492: A Different Kind of “Discovery” Dover to London, Chalk and Clay London: Streetscapes, Strangers London to Chester: Midland England Chester to Caernarvon: Uplands Dublin to Galway: Toward an Atlantic World General Reflections over a Glass of Wine Elements of Change Acknowledgments Notes Works Cited 3 Indigenous Caribbean Networks in a Globalizing World The Precolonial Caribbean The Columbian Turn: Exploitation and Enslavement Gold and Pearls Kalinago Strongholds Amerindian-African-European Intercultural Dynamics Conclusion: Continuity and Change in the Indigenous Caribbean Acknowledgments Works Cited 4 Rethinking Colonial Maya Peripherality Generative Frictions, Salvage, and the Complexes of Conjuncture Native Allies and Mythical Conquistadors Colonial Site Planning and Territoriality Economic Landscapes and Infrastructures of Tribute and Prestige Ambivalent and Anxious Landscapes: Inhabiting the Differently Familiar Works Cited 5 Early Modern Landscapes of Chocolate Places of Chocolate Changing Places Pipil Tacuscalco: Spatial Regimes The Place of Tacuscalco Sixteenth-Century Tacuscalco: A Battlefield Tacuscalco and Colonial Order The Economic and Political Place of Colonial Tacuscalco The Moral Place and Urban Spaces of Tacuscalco From Pueblo to Barrio Change in Place Notes Works Cited 6 Early-Seventeenth-Century Settlement in Barbados and the Shift to Sugar, Slavery, and Capitalism Sugar in Barbados Setting the Stage: Emergent Agro-Industrial Capitalism in the Seventeenth Century Trents Plantation and the Shift to Sugar in Barbados Understanding Change: Barbados’s place in the Turn to Capitalism Conclusion Acknowledgments Notes Works Cited 7 Indefensible Landscapes: Power Dynamics, Social Relations, and Antigua’s Eighteenth-Century Fortifications Plantations in Context Antigua’s Fortifications Landscape and Movement Conclusion Notes Works Cited 8 Graveyards as Landscapes of Power in the Early Modern Atlantic World Jews in the Early Modern Caribbean The African Burial Ground, Manhattan Conclusion: Graveyards as Intersections Notes Works Cited 9 Life beyond the City: Historical and Archaeological Perspectives on Colonial Andean Mobility The Emergence of the Colonial Andean Landscape Urban Perspectives Historical Perspectives on the Andean Countryside Landscapes of Production Landscapes of Mobility Conclusions Works Cited 10 Landscapes of Emergent Frontier Economies at Mission San Buenaventura Mission Landscapes The Alta California Missions Mission San Buenaventura Conclusion Notes Works Cited 11 Bending but Unbroken: The Nine Tribes of the Northern Tsimshian through the Colonial Era Setting the Stage The Nine Tribes through the Nineteenth Century Spatial Patterns of Tribes Economic Transitions Discussion: Evidence of Resilience in Tsimshian-ness through Tribal Identity Conclusions Works Cited 12 Crisis and Transformation in the Bight of Benin at the Dawn of the Atlantic Trade Unfree Labor in the Gulf of Guinea in the Late Fifteenth Century Raising Lazarus: Reassessing Early Ijebu’s Historiography and Archaeology Long-Term Transformations in Ijebu: A Tentative Historical Narrative Notes Works Cited 13 Nineteenth-Century Coastal Guinea: Manifestations of the “Illegal” Slave Trade in a Local System The Archaeological Exploration of Private Trade Local Impacts of the Atlantic Trade Notes Works Cited 14 Economic and Material Basis of Wildlife Preservation in Early Colonial East Africa East Africa’s Wildlife Resources: The Precolonial Political Economy Colonialism, Game Preservation, and Material Extraction The Economics of Hunting Licenses and Firearms Conclusion Notes Works Cited 15 Huge Oceans, Small Comparisons: Danish Enclaves in the Indian and Atlantic Oceans Two Oceans One System in the Danish Mercantile World Two Danish Enclaves that Rhyme Conclusion Notes Works Cited Contributors Index