Sociopolitical Hierarchies Research Articles

Narratives of inequality. Towards an archaeology of structural violence in Late Iron Age Scandinavia

Abstract To date, traditional narratives of the Late Iron Age have focused almost exclusively on discussions of the elite. These were the martial rulers and major landholders who occupied the upper strata of Scandinavian society. The lives of lower-status population groups, including enslaved and other ‘unfree’ or dependent peoples such as landless farmers, have long been marginalized in archaeological discourse. We have little knowledge of the ways in which the lifeways of subaltern peoples were shaped by the construction and maintenance of socio-political hierarchies and networks, or of how social inequality permeated and impacted the daily lives of communities. In this article, the authors propose that the concept of structural violence, developed by sociologist Johan Galtung, has the potential to offer an interdisciplinary framework for multi-proxy studies of (bio)archaeological and textual data.

Discrimination and Dignity Experiences in Prior Oral Care Visits Predict Racialized Oral Health Inequities Among Nationally Representative US Adults.

Racism, an oppressive and fallacious sociopolitical hierarchy, is a fundamental cause of oral health inequities worldwide. Everyday discrimination is associated with worse self-rated oral health, toothache and adult tooth loss, and lower oral care utilization. Few studies examine discrimination or microaggressions within oral care settings or their effects on oral health outcomes. We adapted the seven-item Everyday Discrimination Scale to the oral care setting (EDSOC); developed a four-item Dignity in Oral Care Scale (DOCS); fielded them to a probability-based nationally representative sample of US households as part of the 2022 State of Oral Health Equity in America survey (SOHEA, n = 5682); and examined associations between EDSOC and DOCS scores and three outcomes: self-rated oral health, duration since last oral care visit, and planning for future preventive/routine oral care. Nearly, all EDSCOC and DOCS measures were significantly associated with oral health outcomes. Discrimination experience in dental settings had an additive effect on reporting fair/poor oral health and a suppressive effect on planning a future dental visit. Indignity experience doubled-to-quadrupled the likelihood of reporting fair/poor oral health, not having visited a dentist in 2 years, and not planning a future oral care visit. Racio-ethnically minoritized patients may experience the unjust double bind of resolving urgent dental or completing preventive services needs amidst being treated in a discriminatory manner or without dignity. Oral health stakeholders should invest more effort to understand relationships between racism and oral health outcomes and introduce evidence-based interventions to ultimately abolish this societal harm.

Frontier friction: colonial infrastructures, Chinese (im-)mobility, and the attack on Sam Neua (NE Laos) in 1914

ABSTRACT The 1914 uprising of Sam Neua (Houaphan Province, NE Laos) laid bare complex processes of social and economic mobilization in the mountainous hinterlands of French Indochina. As a first prelude to the upcoming anticolonial struggles in the Lao-Vietnamese borderlands, this heterogeneous movement is only little understood in its sociopolitical and cultural dimensions. Though initiated by armed Chinese bands, the participation of different upland ethnic groups suggests that the uprising was also the result of socioeconomic discontent and disquiet among the local population. At the beginning of the twentieth century, colonial interventions in upland Laos unsettled economic and political configurations, and confronted local powerbrokers with both restrictions and new opportunities. Colonial infrastructure development negatively affected Chinese trade and mobility in northern Indochina – a key factor for the escalation in Sam Neua. By means of combining microhistory and historical anthropology, this paper aims to investigate forms of mobility, mimetic encounters, and shifting conceptions of sociopolitical hierarchies in colonial Indochina that have so far received only scant attention.

Contextualizing Collaborative Planning: Addressing Water Resilience in the Urban Poor Settlements of Ranchi

The research embarks from the standpoint that unequal geographies of service delivery in the Southern city evidence differentiating practices embedded within dominant rational planning practices. It aligns and responds to the call of Southern urban theorists to develop alternative planning practices by anchoring within the socio- spatial specificities of Southern urbanisms. Foregrounding this objective, the research turns to the collaborative planning model and its pragmatic tradition of resisting the subjugating tendencies of instrumental rationality by admitting new ways of knowing and being from the life-world. Drawing upon a multi-actor collaboration that sought to address the circumstance of water insecurity in the urban poor settlements of Ranchi city, the research uses Healy’s (1997) Forum, Arena and Courts as entry points to frame on-ground recursive and collaborative interventions. These include unpacking the context to frame and implement interventions that sought to enhance water security while operationalising supporting actions that aim to sustain the interventions. Within this framing, the paper draws upon the critiques of the collaborative planning model as standpoints for contextual reinterpretation to foreground a) the importance of empowering strategic actors at the bottom of socio-political hierarchies to lead the process; b) conceptualize consensus as a process rather than an end-point recognizing its intrinsic relationship with conflict; and, c) institutionalizing formalized yet flexible processes for consensus-building. Overall the paper argues that collaborative planning with its focus on the particularities of place and on the human capacity to invent, create, and transform presents a viable starting point for resisting the dominating confines of instrumental rationality in significant ways.

The Lords of Kawkabān and the Transformation of the State in Early Modern Yemen (15th–17th Centuries)

Abstract This article reconstructs the history of a Zaydi sayyid clan, the Āl Shams al-Dīn, their rise to prominence prior to the Ottoman conquest of Yemen and their continued success in maintaining their status at the top of Yemeni socio-political hierarchies over four centuries. The article explains the reasons for the success of the family as resilient local rulers and argues that the ability of the lords of Kawkabān to build alliances with the Ottomans was a necessary step for them to keep their special status in the next state formed in Yemen—the Qasimid imamate. Their alliance with the Ottomans is placed in a broader context for comparison. Through the analysis of the position of the family in early modern Yemen continuities between three successive political regimes are demonstrated.

COMMUNITY, AUTHORITY, AND SPACE IN THE HEART OF LA MILPA

In this paper, we update La Milpa’s settlement history using data produced during the course of the Programme for Belize Archaeological Project’s (PfBAP) 15-year tenure (2007-present) at the central precinct of La Milpa, one of the largest urban centers in the eastern Maya lowlands. The research model employed at PfBAP is one that enables multiple research projects to run concurrently, allowing investigators to tackle complex questions of community organization from various research angles. Since 2007, ten different projects have run, sometimes concurrently, within the central precinct of La Milpa. Based on the information gathered from these projects, we propose a narrative for La Milpa’s growth and contraction that is anchored on an understanding of urban space as a reflection and materialization of a community’s relationships – across and through socio-political hierarchies – as well as its surrounding social, political, economic, technical, and ideological environment. As such, the use, development, and abandonment patterns observed in La Milpa’s central precinct are used as proxy for La Milpa’s community history.

THE PFBAP IN NW BELIZE: THREE DECADES OF ARCHAEOLOGICAL PRACTICE

In this paper, we update La Milpa’s settlement history using data produced during the course of the Programme for Belize Archaeological Project’s (PfBAP) 15-year tenure (2007-present) at the central precinct of La Milpa, one of the largest urban centers in the eastern Maya lowlands. The research model employed at PfBAP is one that enables multiple research projects to run concurrently, allowing investigators to tackle complex questions of community organization from various research angles. Since 2007, ten different projects have run, sometimes concurrently, within the central precinct of La Milpa. Based on the information gathered from these projects, we propose a narrative for La Milpa’s growth and contraction that is anchored on an understanding of urban space as a reflection and materialization of a community’s relationships – across and through socio-political hierarchies – as well as its surrounding social, political, economic, technical, and ideological environment. As such, the use, development, and abandonment patterns observed in La Milpa’s central precinct are used as proxy for La Milpa’s community history.

Aesthetics of Postcoloniality: An Insight into Town Planning and Architectural Practices of Madras Under the Colonial Rule

This research paper delves into the aesthetics of town planning and architecture during colonial rule in India, with a focus on the city of Madras. The paper explores how the British colonial project enforced segregation based on race, resulting in the creation of the ‘White Town’ and the ‘Black Town’ that fit into the scheme of ‘divide and rule.’ Examining the implications of such spaces and architecture on the treatment of the native population and the postcolonial legacy that persists to this day, the paper highlights how town planning and architectural practices in Madras were used as tools of colonial power-play, enforcing racial divides and socio-political hierarchies. The research also delves into the creation of distinct European spaces, exclusive native neighbourhoods, and caste-specific localities defining the trade of each community with its distinct aesthetic. It also discusses the appropriation of Indian architectural elements in the Indo-Saracenic style by the British, aimed at legitimizing their rule and showcasing their cultural superiority while hypocritically introducing fortifications as a means to reinforce their differences. By analyzing historical accounts, architectural features, and urban planning in Madras, the paper offers insights into how the aesthetics of segregation and appropriation shaped the colonial landscape and continue to influence contemporary perceptions and spaces. It emphasizes the resilience of native aesthetics despite colonization and highlights the complex interplay between the colonizers' control and the colonized's agency in shaping their own spaces and identities. The research concludes with reflections on the lasting impact of colonial aesthetics and the evolving narratives of postcolonial India.

Oaths and Socio-political Hierarchies in the Urban »Sworn Society«: South-west Germany in the Late Middle Ages

Oaths and Socio-political Hierarchies in the Urban »Sworn Society«: South-west Germany in the Late Middle Ages

Hockey sticks, purple smoke bombs, and empathy: female character representation in Pakistani comics

ABSTRACT This paper explores representations of strong, empowered female characters in contemporary Pakistani comics. Recently, comics have been generating narratives that can create awareness of gender (in)equality and female empowerment in Pakistan. This paper explores the female characters in three Pakistani comics: Raat, Passban- the Guardian and Team Muhafiz. All analysis and discussion offered will be based on the comics and interviews with their respective creative team. This paper will argue that contemporary Pakistani female comic characters challenge the existing socio-political hierarchy through activism and vigilantism. This paper posits that a major reason the comics succeed in their mission is due to being instantly recognisable to its intended audience by being deeply rooted, visually and narratively, in Pakistani culture. The aim of this paper is to contribute to bridging of the existing gap in the discourse about Pakistani female representation in Comic Studies.

“Do You Care That It’s Me?”: Octavia E. Butler’s “Bloodchild” and The New Normal in the Age of Posthumanism

Since early 2020, the whole humanity has been living the pandemic era of which we have never experienced before. The post-pandemic era will necessarily be entirely different from now and thus we need to define the New Normal with the ultimate and groundbreaking reconceptualization of humanity, environment, and symbiosis. In this paper, I contend that Butler’s symbiosis exercised in “Bloodchild” dismantles sociopolitical hierarchy and power, whatsoever, and calls forth sympoiesis with the genetic and mutual change in interspecies relations. Butler questions the anthropocentric conceptualization of humanity and reconfigures interspecies symbiosis in the framework of posthumanism. Her intertwining of feminist and black writings in and outside the SF genre convention creates the posthuman tropes, and helps us reconsider the New Normal condition and anticipate the post-pandemic era beyond the binary scope of humanist ontology.

Pacific royalty, past and present: German interactions with pre-existing elites on Pohnpei

The island of Pohnpei houses the ruins of Nan Madol, currently Micronesia’s only World Heritage site. It is now believed to represent the ceremonial centre of the Saudeleur dynasty, a vibrant period in Pacific Island culture. Western visitors to Pohnpei in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries were fascinated by these ruins, often interpreting them as the dwelling place of kings long past. At the same time, they sought to comprehend the complex socio-political hierarchies of existing Pohnpeian society through the lens of monarchy, identifying multiple ‘kings’ among the island’s elites. This article examines German-speakers’ perceptions of, and interactions with, pre-existing elites on Pohnpei over the years 1870–1914. These dates correspond to a period of significant political change on Pohnpei, from nominal Spanish control to the establishment of an outpost of German imperialism.

Community partnerships in emerging immigrant communities: Lessons learned addressing Latino childhood weight disparities.

Latino children have disproportionately high childhood obesity rates, and U.S.-born Latino children of immigrant parents experience higher overweight/obesity rates than other Latino children. Community-based participatory research (CBPR) to engage Latino immigrant families and Latino-serving community organizations is one mechanism to address the lack of effective and practical interventions addressing childhood obesity disparities among Latino children. We present lessons learned from applying CBPR methods to a partnership focused on developing a child obesity treatment program for Latino immigrant families in an emerging Latino immigrant destination to inform the use of CBPR methods in other partnerships in emerging immigrant communities. We encountered challenges working within the partnership related to entrenched sociopolitical hierarchies that were not inclusive of immigrant community leaders, capacity building for partners with limited literacy and administrative experience, and how best to use complementary methods and frameworks to support a community-engaged research process. This work is one way to promote shared learning among the community of researchers using CBPR and other engagement methods to partner with emerging immigrant communities. Together with our community partners, we can identify strategies to more effectively partner to promote health equity and work toward social justice for all members of our communities.

Richard Mackenney. Venice as the Polity of Mercy: Guilds, Confraternities and the Social Order, c. 1250–c.1650.

Political stability and a lack of popular discontent have always formed key elements in the history of the Venetian Republic. In contrast to other late medieval and early modern city-states that had to deal with riots and revolt on a regular basis, Venice seemed immune to contestation. According to this celebratory narrative, first propagated by early modern Venetian humanists, a strict sociopolitical hierarchy consisting of three orders formed the basis for Venetian stability: a benevolent patriciate governed the city-state and its dominions, the citizens (cittadini) class formed a devoted secondary elite in charge of bureaucratic duties, and ordinary Venetians (popolani) were politically powerless but content. Scholars of Venice have thoroughly examined this traditional image of the politically stable and socially harmonious Serenissima, exposing it as a myth fabricated by patricians to promote their own institutions. The image of Venice as a static, patrician-dominated society has...

Carl Jung, John Layard and Jordan Peterson

Abstract In this article I discuss the relationship between analytical psychology and theories of human social evolution. More specifically I look at debates in evolutionary studies and anthropology regarding the priority of matrilineal social structure in the emergence of Homo sapiens. These debates were occurring in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries and they provide the context for many of the assumptions of psychoanalysis and analytical psychology. In this essay I will explore these issues in relation to analytical psychology. I will also discuss the work of anthropologist John Layard who proposed matriliny was humanity’s original form of social organisation. Interestingly, Layard’s field work had significant impact on Jung. I will also compare the work of Layard, and other theorists who adopt matrilineal theories of human social evolution, with the theories of Jordan Peterson. Peterson has developed an idiosyncratic evolutionary conception of analytical psychology, one in which he explicitly rejects the notion of matrilineal priority in human evolution. He also adopts certain assumptions about the evolutionary origins of contemporary socio-political hierarchy, assumptions I argue are not supported by data from numerous fields of scientific enquiry.

Los tocados mayas en el discurso político. Un estudio de caso de los tocados de serpiente acuática durante el Clásico Tardío

This paper focuses on the study of Maya headdresses as indicators of social identity during the Late Classic period. The study is centered in the Water Lily Serpent headdress, which were used by the Kanu’l dynasty and its allies during the 7th century. I propose that three types of this motif were associated with the Kanu’l dynasty, while a fourth was related to the rulers of Dos Pilas. However, at the end of the Late Classic period the Water Lily Serpent headdresses were locally adapted in some other Maya dynasties with the intention of legitimize their position at the top of the regional sociopolitical hierarchy.

Language Ideology in the Paxton Pamphlet War

This essay examines the literary texts of Pennsylvania's 1764 Paxton pamphlet war, giving close attention to the linguistic representations through which vying parties attempted to claim superiority in the Anglo-American sociopolitical hierarchy. Competing ethnic and political groups published creative literature (including poetry, dialogues, a farce, and a narrative) disparaging their opponents' British virtue and status by lampooning their literary and grammatical acuity and emphasizing their deviation from "acceptable" spoken English. Through analysis of the pamphlet war's portrayals of Quaker, American Indian, and Scots-Irish Presbyterian language, this essay demonstrates that the interrelated issues of language, virtue, and British identity were central to the concerns of provincial Pennsylvanians in 1764.

The influence of Chinese architecture and art on European architecture and design of the period of the eighteenth - early twentieth centuries

Over the centuries of its development, Chinese architecture has developed its specific features, which are embodied in buildings of various functional purposes - imperial palaces, temples of Taoism, Confucianism and Buddhism, small architectural forms, landscape gardening art and the like. The architecture and art of China are inherent in strict observance of the rules of Feng Shui, the correspondence of art and architecture to traditional religious beliefs, philosophy, and especially the socio-political structure of the state. Despite the change of dynasties, traditional architecture remained quite conservative, that is, we can talk about China's inherent continuity of architectural and artistic traditions. The definitive symbols by which ancient Chinese architecture is known in the world are the following: the typical silhouettes of buildings with traditional concave roofs covered with with tiling; the application of polychrome decorated supports, screens; over-saturation with details; the widespread use of complex-shaped carving, the symbolic significance of the mural plots, traditions of which are from prehistoric times, and even polychromy, where each colour had a particular meaning (the main colours were red, gold, blue, green and white).Traditional building materials were stone, wood, and ceramics. The quintessence of traditional signs of ancient Chinese architecture is the ensemble of the imperial Forbidden City in China, the central buildings of which are the three main ceremonial halls of Tài Hé Diàn (The Hall of Supreme Harmony) (Chinese. 太和 殿); Zhōng Hé Diàn (The Hall of Central Harmony) (Chinese. 中 和 殿) and Bǎo Hé Diàn (the Hall of Preserving Harmony) (Chinese 保 和 殿). In addition to them, the ensemble included palace structures, temples and sanctuaries located in the particular socio-political hierarchy. Because of its originality, traditional Chinese architecture has had a significant impact on the philosophy, art and architecture of European countries since the 17th century. It was the Chinese architecture and art tradition due to which the style of chinoiserie emerged. Chinoiserie (from French Chinoiserie, lit. Chinese), a type of orientalism that originated under the influence of the East India Trading Company, the manufacture of Delft ceramics and Golan lacquered furniture in Chinese traditions, manifested in the transformation of traditional techniques of medieval Chinese art and architecture in the art and architecture of Europe in the seventeenth century. The chinoiserie style was an imitating of Oriental art and architecture in general, of the exotic of the East in general, not limited to directly Chinese traditions. Subsequently, Chinese influences felt in later styles of historicism and modernism. At the same time, European variations cannot be considered the exact embodiment of Chinese architectural, artistic and design traditions, given the arbitrary use of forms and motifs from the Chinese philosophical and religious symbolic foundation, other polychrome and simplified forms and decor.

Seuss and the Swerve of Singularity

AbstractThis article explores the unstable distinction between “who” and “what” in Seuss’s Horton Hears a Who! The story’s moral that “a person’s a person no matter how small” has often been read as atoning for the racist cartoons that Geisel drew of the Japanese during World War II. Seussian pedagogy teaches us to hear all persons as whos rather than whats or things. Yet this essay argues that all persons are also things. While this thingliness remains unequally distributed thanks to persistent sociopolitical hierarchies, it also calls on us to think about ethics and politics differently. Diverging from the person/who equation, Jacques Derrida conceives the who as an absolute singularity that resists its subjection to the what, and by extension, its reduction to particularity and identity. Expanding beyond Horton’s racial context, the final section of the essay considers how the contemporary “Black Lives Matter” movement reckons with the problem of particularity and identity while also gesturing toward an incalculable singularity—infinitely deferred yet always “present.”

Crise e hierarquias

Desde a Antiguidade os pensadores ofereceram definições sobre o que seria o sagrado e o profano, revelando que mesmo nos momentos de maior instabilidade e de incertezas a organização e as hierarquias sociopolíticas vinculadas ao universo da ciuitas/cidade tinham uma relação direta com aquelas definições. Nosso estudo pretende oferecer algumas ponderações sobre o entendimento acerca do sagrado e do profano e as suas vinculações nos mundos helenístico, tardio e medieval que acabaram nos levando a confrontar os conceitos de crise e de hierarquia que são essenciais para melhor compreendermos a própria História.