STATES AND EMPIRES IN ANCIENT MESOAMERICA

2009 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 175-182 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arlen F. Chase ◽  
Diane Z. Chase ◽  
Michael E. Smith
Keyword(s):  
Political Action ◽  
Body Politic ◽  
The Body ◽  
Political Structure ◽  
State Development ◽  
Archaeological Data ◽  
City States ◽  
Political Units

AbstractAncient Mesoamerican polities are an important source of data for considerations of state development, despite internal debate over their size and complexity. We review complex political units, usually referred to as “states” and “empires,” in ancient Mesoamerica and reach the following conclusions: these polities tended to be hegemonic, rather than territorial, in composition; they melded ritual and political action; and they utilized the ruler as a symbol of the “body politic.” We also note the apparently larger size of most Maya polities as compared to other Mesoamerican city-states. Besides reviewing the commonalities among ancient Mesoamerican states, we also highlight the variation among these polities and the need to consider historic and archaeological data contextually in making interpretations of political structure.

scholarly journals The Body Politic Metaphor in Communal and Post-Communal Italy – Some Remarks on the Case of Lombardy

2020 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 8-21
Author(s):  
Andrea Gamberini
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
State Formation ◽  
Political Thought ◽  
Political Action ◽  
Body Politic ◽  
Public Debate ◽  
The Body ◽  
The Other ◽  
Late Middle Ages ◽  
The One

Abstract This paper uses the body politic metaphor to explore the dialectic of power between different political players in communal and post-communal Lombardy. On the one hand, notions of corporeal links, drawing upon an ancient and venerable tradition, were key strands of public debate on state formation in the Late Middle Ages. On the other hand, there were distinctively communal and post-communal discourses based upon the body politic metaphor. My purpose is to investigate all of these aspects through analysis of the so-called “pragmatic writings” (such as letters, decrees, notarial deeds), sources usually overlooked by historians of political thought. As is shown in this paper, the novelty of this approach makes it possible to appreciate corporeal metaphors as performative tools and instruments of political action.

‘Good enough for a spot of lippy anyway’: Rape and the Body Politic in My Brother Tom

2013 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 358-373
Author(s):  
Louise Wilks
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Abuse ◽  
Female Body ◽  
Body Politic ◽  
The Body ◽  
Sexual Violation ◽  
Female Protagonist ◽  
British Cinema ◽  
Hollywood Movies ◽  
Contemporary Cinema ◽  
Rape Narratives

The representation of rape continues to be one of the most highly charged issues in contemporary cinema, and whilst many discussions of this topic focus on Hollywood movies, sexual violation is also a pervasive topic in British cinema. This article examines the portrayal of a female's rape in the British feature My Brother Tom (2001), a powerful and often troubling text in which the sexual violation of the teenage female protagonist functions as a catalyst for the events that comprise the plot, as is often the case in rape narratives. The article provides an overview of some of the key feminist academic discussions and debates that cinematic depictions of rape have prompted, before closely analysing My Brother Tom's rape scene in relation to such discourses. The article argues that the rape scene is neither explicit nor sensationalised, and that by having the camera focus on Jessica's bewildered reactions, it positions the audience with her, and powerfully but discreetly portrays the grave nature of sexual abuse. The article then moves on to examine the portrayal of sexual violation in My Brother Tom as a whole, considering the cultural inscriptions etched on the female body within its account of rape, before concluding with a discussion of the film's depiction of Jessica's ensuing methods of bodily self-inscription as she attempts to disassociate her body from its sexual violation.

Receptions of the Past: Commemoration, Racism, Desire

Somatechnics ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 288-303
Author(s):  
Michael Connors Jackman
Keyword(s):  
Critical Point ◽  
Social Relations ◽  
White Privilege ◽  
Body Politic ◽  
The Body ◽  
Race And Racism ◽  
Lesbian And Gay ◽  
The Past ◽  
History Of

This article investigates the ways in which the work of The Body Politic (TBP), the first major lesbian and gay newspaper in Canada, comes to be commemorated in queer publics and how it figures in the memories of those who were involved in producing the paper. In revisiting a critical point in the history of TBP from 1985 when controversy erupted over race and racism within the editorial collective, this discussion considers the role of memory in the reproduction of whiteness and in the rupture of standard narratives about the past. As the controversy continues to haunt contemporary queer activism in Canada, the productive work of memory must be considered an essential aspect of how, when and for what reasons the work of TBP comes to be commemorated. By revisiting the events of 1985 and by sifting through interviews with individuals who contributed to the work of TBP, this article complicates the narrative of TBP as a bluntly racist endeavour whilst questioning the white privilege and racially-charged demands that undergird its commemoration. The work of producing and preserving queer history is a vital means of challenging the intentional and strategic erasure of queer existence, but those who engage in such efforts must remain attentive to the unequal terrain of social relations within which remembering forms its objects.

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