ANTH 100A Lecture Notes - Lecture 16: Maisin Language, Kinship, Nationstates
Document Summary
The anthropological study of politics, the comparative dimensions of political order, (bands, tribes, chiefdoms, states, nation-states), nation-states as imagined communities, the challenges and costs of national identity. Most of human history = society has been political (elections, status etc. ) Papua new guinea & maisin culture: westminster style elections, democracy. Communities were remote, so it would take up to a month to vote. Elevating oneself for a leader position = not preferred. People making decisions that affect a group, freedom exists, nature of society = certain constraints and structures that is the norm. Differences are clear when one is exposed to other systems. Scale (size of political unit): different scales implement different political orders. Local systems + political systems: integrated into one. Band organization: identity (family), leadership (limited, based on age and skills, not based on formal terms), disputes (consensus built to deal with disputes, mobility people just leaving, flexible political organization), control (social sanctions), conflict (personal, raiding).
