Factional Competition and Political Development in the New World

This volume examines how factional competition in ancient New World societies led to the development of chiefdoms, states and empires.

Elizabeth M. Brumfiel (Edited by), John W. Fox (Edited by)

9780521545846, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 4 December 2003

248 pages, 24 b/w illus. 32 maps 17 tables
24.6 x 18.9 x 1.3 cm, 0.45 kg

Factionalism is an important force of social transformation, and this volume examines how factional competition in the kinship and political structures in ancient New World societies led to the development of chiefdoms, states and empires. The case studies, from a range of New World societies, represent all levels of non-egalitarian societies and a wide variety of ecological settings in the New World. They document the effects of factionalism on the structure of particular polities: for example, how it might have led to the growth of social inequality, or to changing patterns of chiefly authority, or to state formation and expansion, or institutional specialisation. The work is a creative and substantial contribution to our understanding of the political dynamics in early state society, and will interest archaeologists, anthropologists, political scientists and historians.

Part I. Introduction: 1. Factional competition and political development in the New World: an introduction Elizabeth M. Brumfiel
Part II. Chiefdoms: 2. The power of prestige: competitive generosity and the emergence of rank societies in lowland Mesoamerica John E. Clark and Michael Blake
3. Factional ascendance, dimensions of leadership, and the development of centralized authority Charles S. Spencer
4. External warfare and the internal politics of northern South American tribes and chiefdoms Elsa M. Redmond
5. Chiefdom rivalries, control, and external contacts in lower Central America Mary W. Helms
6. Factional competition and the political evolution of Mississippian chiefdoms in the southeastern United States David G. Anderson
Part III. States: 7. Ethnicity and political control in a complex society: the Tarascan state of prehispanic Mexico Helen Perlstein Pollard
8. Ethnic groups and factions in Aztec Mexico Elizabeth M. Brumfiel
9. Factional divisions within the Aztec (Colhua) royal family Rudolf Van Zantwijk
10. Alliance and intervention in Aztec imperial expansion Frederic Hicks
11. Political factions in the transition from Classic to Postclassic in the Mixteca Alta Bruce E. Byland, and John M. D. Pohl
12. Internal subdivisions of communities in the prehispanic valley of Oaxaca Stephen A. Kowalewski
13. Cycles of conflict: political factionalism in the Maya lowlands Mary E. D. Pohl and John M. D. Pohl
14. Political cosmology among the Quiche Maya John W. Fox
15. Factionalism and political development in the central Andes Terence N. D'Altroy
Part IV. Discussion
16. Factional competition and historical materialism Glenn Perusek
17 Conclusions: moietal opposition, segmentation and factionalism in New World political areas John W. Fox.

Subject Areas: Archaeology [HD]