Central Places and Cities: A Consideration of the Protohistoric Tarascan State

1980 ◽  
Vol 45 (4) ◽  
pp. 677-696 ◽  
Author(s):  
Helen Perlstein Pollard

Systems of human settlement serve as primary sources of evidence for investigating variability in the evolution of complex societies. In particular, the existence of and nature of cities reveals much about the nature and direction of sociopolitical changes characteristic of prehistoric states. The present study places the analysis of prehistoric urbanism within the context of settlement system analyses and applies this approach to the protohistoric Tarascan state of western Mexico. This first synthesis of our knowledge of major Tarascan settlements evaluates the protohistoric communities at Tzintzuntzan, Ihuatzio, Pátzcuaro, and Erongarícuaro (within the Lake Pátzcuaro Basin) and considers those outside the Tarascan core, especially Zacapu. This study suggests that the Tarascan state did not participate in the Central Mexican urban tradition, and that the historic capital, Tzintzuntzan, may have been unique in its urban status. Rather, the state was characterized by a complex and overlapping network of central places and specialized places. To the extent that this pattern diverges from other prehistoric systems it constitutes one source for understanding the diversity in the protohistoric Mesoamerican world.

1999 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 259-280 ◽  
Author(s):  
Helen Perlstein Pollard ◽  
Laura Cahue

Based primarily upon evidence from the site of Urichu in the Lake Pátzcuaro Basin of Michoacán, we propose that changes in the burial practices of local elites document a transformation of these elites from highly ranked local chiefs into a socially stratified elite class associated with the emergence of the Tarascan state. Two distinctive mortuary patterns that represent the Classic-Epiclassic and Late Postclassic periods are presented. These patterns vary in the age and sex composition of differing mortuary facilities, the preparation and treatment of the bodies, the mortuary facilities, the types of burial goods, and the location of the burials within settlements. Comparison to mortuary practices from the sites of Loma Santa María (Morelia), Guadalupe (Zacapu Basin), Tingambato, and Tres Cerritos (Cuitzeo Basin) place these patterns in a regional context. By contrasting the earlier mortuary pattern, which is associated with societies poorly known, with the later mortuary pattern, which is associated with the well documented Tarascan empire, it is possible to propose a model of a transformation in regional political economies associated with the emergence of the Tarascan state in the Postclassic period. This transformation involved a shift in elite identity from one primarily associated with imported finished goods from distant powerful centers and control of prestige goods networks, to an identity primarily associated with locally produced, distinctively Tarascan, goods and control of tributary, military, political, and ideological networks.


2008 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 217-230 ◽  
Author(s):  
Helen Perlstein Pollard

AbstractBya.d.1350, central-western Mexico was incorporated into the Tarascan state. Thisirechequa tzintzuntzani(kingdom of Tzintzuntzan) has been known primarily from sixteenth-century documents. With three decades of archaeological, ecological, and ethnohistoric research, it is now possible to propose a model of the emergence of the first archaic state in Michoacan. Critical issues to be addressed include (1) why state formation occurred (and why this form); (2) why even secondary state formation was “delayed” for more than a millennium; (3) why it occurred in the Lake Patzcuaro Basin; and (4) the role of Purepecha ethnicity in the process.


Author(s):  
Laura Giraudo ◽  
Juan Martín Sánchez

This article presents the main objectives and outcomes of the Interindi research project: “El indigenismo interamericano: instituciones, redes y proyectos para un continente, 1940-1960”. Its most ambitious research objective is to provide a methodological, theoretical and empirical contribution to scientific discussion on indigenismo. After discussing the state of the art in this field, advances are offered for a new broader perspective based on two fundamental aspects: 1) the importance of consulting primary sources to explain indigenismo, and 2) the need to remove the discussion of the indigenous question and indigenismo from the auto-referential context in which it has developed.Key WordsIndigenismo, professional field, inter-American networks.ResumenEste artículo presenta los objetivos y resultados principales del proyecto de investigación Interindi: “El indigenismo interamericano: instituciones, redes y proyectos para un continente, 1940-1960”. El objetivo más ambicioso de la investigación es conseguir una contribución metodológica, teórica y empírica a la discusión científica acerca del indigenismo. Tras discutir el estado de la cuestión, se introducen los avances de una nueva perspectiva general que radica en dos aspectos fundamentales: 1) la importancia de acudir al estudio de las fuentes para explicar el indigenismo y 2) la necesidad de sacar la discusión sobre la cuestión indígena y el indigenismo del contexto autorreferencial en que se ha desarrollado.Palabras claveIndigenismo, campo profesional, redes interamericanas.


2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (5) ◽  
pp. 549-559
Author(s):  
Olga A. Tuminskaya

The relevance of the article is indicated by referring to archival primary sources that characterize the forms and methods of scientific and artistic educational activities of the State Russian Museum in the 1940s, in particular — during the Great Patriotic War (a museum tour, an exhibition session, a lecture, a conversation with slides). This makes it possible to more accurately identify the direction of work in the following years and at the present time and indicate the need to introduce other forms of work with visitors: lectures with slides, traveling exhibitions, concerts, cycle subscriptions, trips to villages and enterprises, lectures on the radio, cooperation with the museum’s publishing house and the country’s press bodies.The influence of the Department of Scientific and Artistic Propaganda of the 1940s on the State Russian Museum’s subsequent work on communication with the audience is expressed in the revision of the content of the excursion and lecture courses. In the 1950s—1970s, messages on the heroic past of the Soviet people, presentations of the activities of warrior artists, and communication with national unions of artists gained particular popularity. The State Russian Museum became a center for advanced training of tour guides for peripheral art museums.Documentary sources, which include archive materials, are of particular importance in the preservation of memory. Together with them, works of art created during the war or in the first post-war years play an invaluable role in restoring the truth.


2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
pp. 370-407
Author(s):  
Dina Boero ◽  
Charles Kuper

A large dossier of primary sources survives for Symeon the Stylite the Younger from Late Antiquity. These sources include not only hagiographical evidence, but also archaeological remains from his cult site, homilies, and at least one letter. They offer insight into the varied voices which shaped Symeon’s identity, sanctity, and ministry in the sixth and early seventh centuries CE. The state of scholarship on these sources is uneven, however, with the result that scholars have primarily studied the saint and his cult through the lens of the hagiographic material, the Life of Symeon Stylites the Younger in particular. In order to lay the foundation for a full inquiry into the saint and his cult, this article disentangles the dossier of evidence on Symeon in Late Antiquity. It introduces each source in chronological order; provides an overview of authorship, date, and the state of scholarship for each source; and makes preliminary recommendations for paths forward. It is meant to be a guide for art historians and archaeologists unfamiliar with the sizeable literary corpus, textual scholars who do not often work with material sources, and, for both groups, an introduction to problems in the dossier. It encourages scholars to treat each source on its own terms and re-evaluate the rich interconnections between the textual and archaeological evidence.


2020 ◽  
pp. 1-36
Author(s):  
Eduardo Williams

Abstract This article deals with the cultural activities linked to subsistence in aquatic environments (fishing, hunting, gathering, and manufacture) in Michoacán from ca. a.d. 1540 to the present. First, I present an ethnohistorical account of aquatic landscapes and resources based on the major written sources from the sixteenth to the nineteenth centuries. Second, I discuss the extant ethnographic information about subsistence activities in the Lake Pátzcuaro Basin (Michoacán) during the twentieth century. Finally, I discuss the archaeological implications of all the information presented here, through an ethnoarchaeological analysis of the subsistence strategies and the material culture associated with the aquatic lifeway in the study area. The main goal of this study is to provide bridging arguments for the reconstruction and interpretation (through analogy) of the archaeological assemblages associated with production and consumption activities in aquatic landscapes within the Tarascan region and elsewhere in Mesoamerica.


2016 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 99
Author(s):  
Juan Pablo Juan Pablo Angelone

Resumen Sostenida particularmente durante la presidencia de Raúl Alfonsín (1983-1989), la “teoría de los dos demonios es considerada la memoria hegemónica-dominante referida a la última dictadura cívico-militar argentina (1976-1983). A su vez, el Informe de la Comisión Nacional sobre la Desaparición de Personas (CONADEP) el “Nunca Más”, suele ser considerado una expresión de dicha memoria. Según nuestra hipótesis, el “Nunca Más” no suscribe la “teoría de los dos demonios” sino una memoria diferente aunque no antitética. El objetivo del presente trabajo consiste en caracterizar ambos conjuntos de representaciones con el fin de señalar las diferencias entre ellos. Nuestro corpus de análisis incluye como fuentes primarias los escritos y declaraciones de Alfonsín relativos al tema así como también el Prólogo del “Nunca Más” presentado en 1984. Dado que la autoría de este último es atribuida a Ernesto Sabato, presidente de la CONADEP, también se consideran algunas declaraciones del mencionado autor. Dichas fuentes primarias son históricamente contextualizadas a partir del uso de fuentes secundarias, dentro de las cuales incluimos el estado del arte relativo a la “teoría de los dos demonios”. Concluimos que si bien el planteo de Alfonsín y el Prólogo original del “Nunca Más” coinciden en el rechazo a la violencia como medio de expresión política, Alfonsín pone en un plano de igualdad a dos actores: el guerrillerismo izquierdista y el golpismo, mientras que el Prólogo critica tres modalidades de violencia: la guerrilla, el terrorismo paraestatal de derecha, actor no mencionado por Alfonsín, y el terrorismo dictatorial.  Between two demons and three violences: Alfonsín’s administration and the senses of the state terrorism memory in contemporary Argentina Abstract  Particularly held during Raul Alfonsín’s presidency (1983 – 1989), “the theory of the two demons” is considered the dominant-hegemonic memory referred to the last Argentine civic-military dictatorship (1976 – 1983). In turn, the report of the National Commission on the Disappearance of Persons (CONADEP)- “Nunca Más” (Never Again) is usually considered an expression of the aforesaid memory. According to our hypothesis, “Nunca Más” does not subscribe to the “theory of the two demons” but to a different memory – though not antithetical. The aim of the current paper consists of characterizing both groups of representations in order to point out the differences between them. Our corpus of analysis includes as main sources Alfonsín’s documents and statements concerned with the issue, as well as the “Nunca Más” prologue, presented in 1984. Some statements of Ernesto Sabato, CONADEP’s president, are also considered due to the fact that the authorship of the latter work mentioned has been attributed to him. Such primary sources are historically contextualized from the use of secondary sources, which within we include the state of the art relative to “the theory of the two demons”. We conclude that even though Alfonsín’s proposal and the original “Nunca Más” prologue coincide in the rejection of violence as a means of political expression, Alfonsín places in an equal position two actors – the left-wing guerrilla and the coup – while the prologue criticizes 3 violence modalities: the guerrilla, the right-wing semi-official terrorism – actor not mentioned by Alfonsín – and the dictatorial terrorism. 


STADION ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 44 (1) ◽  
pp. 105-137
Author(s):  
André Gounot

Based on numerous primary sources, this article provides a detailed analysis of the political and organizational upheavals that sports experienced in Cuba in the early years of the Fidel Castro era. It first shows to what degree the revolutionary government’s ambitious sports policy, which aimed at mass sports right from the start, represented a radical change from the Batista era. In the first phase, in which the restoration of democracy still seemed possible, the State institution Dirección General de Deportes (DGD) cooperated with bourgeois sports associations. The latter, however, were progressively eroded as a result of the increasing competition they faced from the free DGD offers, as well as the emigration of many of their members, coaches and officials. The establishment of a ministry with complete control of sports on February 23, 1961 took place on the one hand in continuity with the developments of the previous two years, and on the other hand, as part of the socialist transformation of society. From then on, all sport activities, both at local and national level, were organized under the control of the State and the revolutionary organizations. The article places the emphasis on amateur sports, but the elimination of professional sport, which happened soon afterwards, will also be discussed.


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