ANTHR 3520 - [Kings and States in Ancient Asia]

(crosslisted)
(also ARKEO 3520, ASIAN 3362)(GHB) (SBA-AS)

Fall. 4 credits. Letter grades only.

Recommented prerequisites: some foundation in either Asian anthropology, archaeology, or history. Next offered 2015-2016.

M. Fiskesjö.

This course investigates non-Western systems of political power and their creation in history. We will study the formative processes of Asia’s kingdoms and empires, with special attention to both ideological conceptions and material foundations. Among areas to be studied will be the archaic Chinese states and early empires; the Cambodian Angkor empire; as well as state-making in early Burma, Japan, and other parts of Asia. General theory and concepts of state formation and political power, as well as processes of secondary state formation and center-periphery mimesis and domination in other world areas, will also be introduced and compared. By surveying and re-examining the fast-expanding archaeology and history of Asian state-making, the course will offer a background for understanding the politics of state power in both historical and contemporary Asia.