Archaeology of State Origins
Code: 100727 ECTS Credits: 6| Degree | Type | Year |
|---|---|---|
| 2500241 Archaeology | OT | 3 |
| 2500241 Archaeology | OT | 4 |
Contact
- Name:
- Rafael Mico Perez
- Email:
- rafael.mico@uab.cat
Teachers
- Rafael Mico Perez
Teaching groups languages
You can view this information at the end of this document.
Prerequisites
No prerequisites.
Objectives and Contextualisation
The most relevant proposals regarding the State as a historical phenomenon in itself and, also, as a category of social analysis will be presented and debated.
The contents of the course are structured in two parts:
1. Theories of the State in Western philosophical thought. The concept of "State" will be reviewed over time, in order to expose and critically evaluate the most influential philosophical models within the framework of the tradition of Western thought. In parallel, its respective influence on archaeological discipline will be emphasized.
2. Archeology of the State. The key issue of State formation will be approached from the archaeological and, secondarily, anthropological research. From this perspective, the conditions and mechanisms that triggered the formation of the State in different times and regions of the world will be analyzed.
Competences
- Archaeology
- Contextualizing and analysing historical processes.
- Developing critical thinking and reasoning and communicating them effectively both in your own and other languages.
- Managing the main methods, techniques and analytic tools in archaeology.
- Providing a context for the concepts of archaeological theory and its origin and distinguishing the main epistemological and methodological debates in social sciences.
- Students must be capable of applying their knowledge to their work or vocation in a professional way and they should have building arguments and problem resolution skills within their area of study.
- Students must have and understand knowledge of an area of study built on the basis of general secondary education, and while it relies on some advanced textbooks it also includes some aspects coming from the forefront of its field of study.
Learning Outcomes
- Applying both knowledge and analytical skills to the resolution of problems related to their area of study.
- Applying proper techniques and analytical tools in case studies.
- Critically assessing the sources and theoretical models.
- Identifying main and supporting ideas and expressing them with linguistic correctness.
- Identifying the characteristic methods of Archaeology and its relationship with the historical analysis.
- Identifying the context of the historical processes.
- Interpreting material sources and the archaeological record.
- Knowing the main archaeological debates on Prehistory.
- Mastering the diachronic structure of the past.
- Mastering the processes of change produced in Prehistory.
- Recognising the importance of controlling the quality of the work's results and its presentation.
- Using the specific interpretational and technical vocabulary of the discipline.
Content
Part I: Theories of the State in the Western philosophical thought.
1. Politics and government in Classical world: Plato and Aristotle.
2. The Christian thought: Augustin of Hippo and Thomas Aquinas.
3. Machiavelli and the modern theory of the State: power technologies.
4. The modern concept of ‘State’: Hobbes and radical individualism; Locke and the liberal ‘emergency’; Rousseau, assembly and social contract.
5. Hegel and the rational definition of the State.
6. Evolutionism, Civilization and State: Morgan.
7. The Marxist theory of the State: Marx, Engels and Lenin.
8. The Anarchist critique against the State: Bakunin.
9. The State at present: ¿Towards a Global State?
Part II: Arqueology of the State.
1. Archaeology and the research on Civilization and State formation.
2. V. G. Childe and the “Urban Revolution”.
3. Processual archaeology and anthropological neoevolutionism: research on “complex societies”.
4. Historical Materialism and the archaeology of the State.
5. Case studies issued from prehistoric archaeology: theory, method and social trajectories.
Activities and Methodology
| Title | Hours | ECTS | Learning Outcomes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Type: Directed | |||
| Lectures | 50 | 2 | 8, 10, 9, 6 |
| Type: Supervised | |||
| Seminars | 10 | 0.4 | 2, 1, 3, 4, 7, 12 |
The subject consists of theoretical and seminary classes.
-In the theoretical classes the central contents of the syllabus will be taught, linking the different theoretical proposals from political thought with the central archaeological problem around the formation and development of classist societies with state political organization. The treatment of the topics will be accompanied by the critical exposure of case studies corresponding to different times and regions of the world.
-The seminars will discuss the most relevant theoretical and methodological aspects related to the subject contents.
Annotation: Within the schedule set by the centre or degree programme, 15 minutes of one class will be reserved for students to evaluate their lecturers and their courses or modules through questionnaires.
Assessment
Continous Assessment Activities
| Title | Weighting | Hours | ECTS | Learning Outcomes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Short essays | 70 | 60 | 2.4 | 1, 3, 10, 9, 5, 4, 7, 12 |
| Text comments | 30 | 30 | 1.2 | 2, 1, 3, 8, 6, 4, 7, 11, 12 |
- A text commentary, related to the subjects included in Part Ii.
- Two short essays on the main ideas presented and discussed during the course.
Resit: new submission of assignments after having corrected previous failures or shortages.
Single evaluation procedure allowed. This will consist of a text commentary and two short essays.
Bibliography
References (general)
BOBBIO, N.
(1987), La teoría de las formas de gobierno en la historia del pensamiento político. Fondo de Cultura Económica, México.
LULL, V. y MICÓ, R.
(2007), Arqueología del Origen del Estado. Las Teorías. Ed. Bellaterra. Barcelona.
SABINE, G. H.
(1996), Historia de la teoría política. Fondo de Cultura Económica, México.
TOUCHARD, J.
(1996), Historia de las ideas políticas. Tecnos, Madrid.
References (specific issues)
ARISTOTLE
(1970), Política. Centro de Estudios Constitucionales, Madrid.
BAKUNIN, M.
(1978), Escritos de filosofía política. Alianza editorial, Madrid.
BINFORD, L.
(1988), En busca del pasado. Crítica, Barcelona.
CASTRO, P., GILI, S., LULL, V., MICÓ, R., RIHUETE, C., RISCH, R. & SANAHUJA YLL, Mª E.
(2001), “Teoría de la producción de la vida social. Un análisis de los mecanismos de explotación en el sudeste peninsular”, Astigi Vetus, 1, pp. 13-54.
CHAPMAN, R. W.
(2010), Arqueologías de la complejidad. Bellaterra, Barcelona.
CHILDE, V. G.
(1950), “The urban revolution”, Town Planning Review, 21, pp. 3-17.
CHILDE, V. G.
(1984), Los orígenes de la civilización. Fondo de Cultura Económica, México.
CHOMSKY, N. & DIETERICH, H.
(1997), La aldea global. Txalaparta, Tafalla.
ENGELS, F.
(1975), El Origen de la Familia, la Propiedad Privada y el Estado. Editorial de Ciencias Sociales, La Habana.
FEINMAN, G. & MARCUS, J. (eds.)
(1998), Archaic States, School of American Research, Santa Fe.
FLANNERY, K.
(1975), La evolución cultural de las civilizaciones. Anagrama, Barcelona.
FRIED, M.
(1985), “Sobre la evolución de la estratificación social y del Estado”, in LLOBERA, J. R. (ed.) Antropología Política. Anagrama, Barcelona, pp. 133-154.
GLEDHILL, J., BENDER, B. & LARSEN, M. T. (eds.)
(1988), State and Society. The Emergence and Development of Social Hierarchy and Political Centralization. Unwin Hyman, London.
GODELIER, M.
(1974), Esquemas de evolución de las sociedades. Castellote, Madrid.
HAAS, J., ed.
(2001), From Leaders to Rulers, Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers, New York.
HARRIS, M.
(1978), Caníbales y Reyes. Argos-Vergara, Barcelona.
HEGEL, G. W. F.
(1993), Fundamentos de la filosofía del derecho. Ediciones Libertarias/Prodhufi, Madrid.
HOBBES, T.
(1991), Del ciudadano y Leviatán. Tecnos, Madrid.
LENIN, V. I.
(1976), El Estado y la revolución. Anagrama, Barcelona.
LOCKE, J.
(1985), Ensayo sobre el gobierno civil. Orbis, Barcelona.
MACHIAVELLI, N.
(1981), El Príncipe (comentado por Napoleón Bonaparte). Espasa-Calpe Mexicana, México.
MARX, K.
(1975), “Crítica del Programa de Gotha”, en Marx y Engels. Obras escogidas. Vol. II. Akal, Madrid, pp. 5-30.
MARX, K.
(1989 [1857]), “Introducción” a las Grundrisse”. Annex in Contribución a la crítica de la economía política. Progreso, Moscú.
MARX, K.
(1979), Formaciones económicas precapitalistas. Introductory study of E. Hobsbawn. Crítica, Barcelona.
MICÓ, R.
(2020), "Physical Violence, Public Violence: Searching for Mechanisms of Social Domination", Culture & History Digital Journal, 9 (1).
MORGAN, L. H.
(1987), La sociedad primitiva. Endymion, Madrid.
PLATÓN
(1973), La República o El Estado. Espasa-Calpe, Madrid.
PRICE, T. D. & FEINMAN, G. M. (eds.)
(1995), Foundations of Social Inequality, Plenum Press, New York/London.
ROUSSEAU, J.-J.
(1985), El contrato social. Edaf, Madrid.
ROUSSEAU, J.-J.
(1996), Discurso sobre el origen de la desigualdad de los hombres. Alba, Madrid.
SERVICE, E.
(1984), Los Orígenes del Estado y de la Civilización. Alianza, Madrid.
SMITH, A. T.
(2003), The Political Landscape. Constellations of Authority in Early Complex Polities, University of California Press, Berkeley / Los Angeles.
TOMÁS DE AQUINO
(1995), La monarquía. Tecnos, Madrid.
WASON, P. K.
(1994), The archaeology of rank. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
Software
No specialised software is required
Language list
| Name | Group | Language | Semester | Turn |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| (PAUL) Classroom practices | 1 | Catalan | second semester | morning-mixed |
| (TE) Theory | 1 | Catalan | second semester | morning-mixed |