Agency Uncovered PDF Download
Are you looking for read ebook online? Search for your book and save it on your Kindle device, PC, phones or tablets. Download Agency Uncovered PDF full book. Access full book title Agency Uncovered by Andrew Gardner. Download full books in PDF and EPUB format.
Author: Andrew Gardner
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1315435195
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 319
Get Book Here
Book Description
This book questions the value of the concept of 'agency', a term used in sociological and philosophical literature to refer to individual free will in archaeology. On the one hand it has been argued that previous generations of archaeologists, in explaining social change in terms of structural or environmental conditions, have lost sight of the 'real people' and reduced them to passive cultural pawns, on the other, introducing the concept of agency to counteract this can be said to perpetuate a modern, Western view of the autonomous individual who is free from social constraints. This book discusses the balance between these two opposites, using a range of archaeological and historical case studies, including European and Asian prehistory, classical Greece and Rome, the Inka and other Andean cultures. While focusing on the relevance of 'agency' theory to archaeological interpretation and using it to create more diverse and open-ended accounts of ancient cultures, the authors also address the contemporary political and ethical implications of what is essentially a debate about the definition of human nature.
Author: Andrew Gardner
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1315435195
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 319
Get Book Here
Book Description
This book questions the value of the concept of 'agency', a term used in sociological and philosophical literature to refer to individual free will in archaeology. On the one hand it has been argued that previous generations of archaeologists, in explaining social change in terms of structural or environmental conditions, have lost sight of the 'real people' and reduced them to passive cultural pawns, on the other, introducing the concept of agency to counteract this can be said to perpetuate a modern, Western view of the autonomous individual who is free from social constraints. This book discusses the balance between these two opposites, using a range of archaeological and historical case studies, including European and Asian prehistory, classical Greece and Rome, the Inka and other Andean cultures. While focusing on the relevance of 'agency' theory to archaeological interpretation and using it to create more diverse and open-ended accounts of ancient cultures, the authors also address the contemporary political and ethical implications of what is essentially a debate about the definition of human nature.
Author: Sharon R. Steadman
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1134945515
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 335
Get Book Here
Book Description
Agency theory examines the relationship between individuals or groups when one party is doing work on behalf of another. 'Agency and Identity in the Ancient Near East' offers a theoretical study of agency and identity in Near Eastern archaeology, an area which until now has been largely ignored by archaeologists. The book explores how agency theory can be employed in reconstructing the meaning of spaces and material culture, how agency and identity intersect, and how the availability of a textual corpus may impact on the agency approach. Ranging from the Neolithic to the Islamic period, 'Agency and Identity in the Ancient Near East' covers sites located in Turkey, Iraq, Syria, Jordan, Palestine, and Israel. The volume includes contributions from philology, art, history, computer simulation studies, materials science, and the archaeology of settlement and architecture.
Author: Joshua Englehardt
Publisher: University Press of Colorado
ISBN: 1607322099
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 320
Get Book Here
Book Description
Individual agents are frequently evident in early writing and notational systems, yet these systems have rarely been subjected to the concept of agency as it is traceable in archeology. Agency in Ancient Writing addresses this oversight, allowing archeologists to identify and discuss real, observable actors and actions in the archaeological record. Embracing myriad ways in which agency can be interpreted, ancient writing systems from Mesoamerica, Mesopotamia, Egypt, Crete, China, and Greece are examined from a textual perspective as both archaeological objects and nascent historical documents. This allows for distinction among intentions, consequences, meanings, and motivations, increasing understanding and aiding interpretation of the subjectivity of social actors. Chapters focusing on acts of writing and public recitation overlap with those addressing the materiality of texts, interweaving archaeology, epigraphy, and the study of visual symbol systems. Agency in Ancient Writing leads to a more thorough and meaningful discussion of agency as an archaeological concept and will be of interest to anyone interested in ancient texts, including archaeologists, historians, linguists, epigraphers, and art historians, as well as scholars studying agency and structuration theory.
Author: Assaf Yasur-Landau
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1108668240
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 941
Get Book Here
Book Description
The volume offers a comprehensive introduction to the archaeology of the southern Levant (modern day Israel, Palestine and Jordan) from the Paleolithic period to the Islamic era, presenting the past with chronological changes from hunter-gatherers to empires. Written by an international team of scholars in the fields of archaeology, epigraphy, and bioanthropology, the volume presents central debates around a range of archaeological issues, including gender, ritual, the creation of alphabets and early writing, biblical periods, archaeometallurgy, looting, and maritime trade. Collectively, the essays also engage diverse theoretical approaches to demonstrate the multi-vocal nature of studying the past. Significantly, The Social Archaeology of the Levant updates and contextualizes major shifts in archaeological interpretation.
Author: Miriam T. Stark
Publisher: University of Arizona Press
ISBN: 081654929X
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 320
Get Book Here
Book Description
How and why people develop, maintain, and change cultural boundaries through time are central issues in the social and behavioral sciences in generaland anthropological archaeology in particular. What factors influence people to imitate or deviate from the behaviors of other group members? How are social group boundaries produced, perpetuated, and altered by the cumulative outcomeof these decisions? Answering these questions is fundamental to understanding cultural persistence and change. The chapters included in this stimulating, multifaceted book address these questions. Working in several subdisciplines, contributors report on research in the areas of cultural boundaries, cultural transmission, and the socially organized nature of learning. Boundaries are found not only within and between the societies in these studies but also within and between the communities of scholars who study them. To break down these boundaries, this volume includes scholars who use multiple theoretical perspectives, including practice theory and evolutionary traditions, which are sometimes complementary and occasionally clashing. Geographic coverage ranges from the indigenous Americas to Africa, the Near East, and South Asia, and the time frame extends from the prehistoric or precontact to colonial periods and up to the ethnographic present. Contributors include leading scholars from the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and Europe. Together, they employ archaeological, ethnographic, ethnoarchaeological,experimental, and simulation data to link micro-scale processes of cultural transmission to macro-scale processes of social group boundary formation, continuity, and change.
Author: Vicki Cummings
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN: 0199551227
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 1361
Get Book Here
Book Description
This book provides a comprehensive review of hunter-gatherer studies, undertaking detailed regional and thematic case-studies that span the archaeology, history and anthropology of hunter gatherers, concluding with an in-depth review of the main opportunities, research questions, and moral obligations that lie ahead.
Author: Ethan Cochrane
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1315428792
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 399
Get Book Here
Book Description
This collection of original articles compares various key archaeological topics—agency, violence, social groups, diffusion—from evolutionary and interpretive perspectives. These two strands represent the major current theoretical poles in the discipline. By comparing and contrasting the insights they provide into major archaeological themes, this volume demonstrates the importance of theoretical frameworks in archaeological interpretations. Chapter authors discuss relevant Darwinian or interpretive theory with short archaeological and anthropological case studies to illustrate the substantive conclusions produced. The book will advance debate and contribute to a better understanding of the goals and research strategies that comprise these distinct research traditions.
Author: James Conolly
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1139936522
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 322
Get Book Here
Book Description
Geographical Information Systems has moved from the domain of the computer specialist into the wider archaeological community, providing it with an exciting new research method. This clearly written but rigorous book provides a comprehensive guide to that use. Topics covered include: the theoretical context and the basics of GIS; data acquisition including database design; interpolation of elevation models; exploratory data analysis including spatial queries; statistical spatial analysis; map algebra; spatial operations including the calculation of slope and aspect, filtering and erosion modeling; methods for analysing regions; visibility analysis; network analysis including hydrological modeling; the production of high quality output for paper and electronic publication; and the use and production of metadata. Offering an extensive range of archaeological examples, it is an invaluable source of practical information for all archaeologists, whether engaged in cultural resource management or academic research. This is essential reading for both the novice and the advanced user.
Author: Stephanie Koerner
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1351876678
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 424
Get Book Here
Book Description
This important book addresses critical themes in the development of archaeology as a reflexive, self-critical discipline in the modern world. It explores the ethical, political and cultural tensions and responsibilities which need to be addressed by archaeologists when working within networks of global ecologies and communities, examining how authoritarian traditions can exacerbate the divide between expert and public knowledge. Moreover, it analyses how localized acts of archaeology relate to changing conceptions of risk, heritage, culture, identity, and conflict. Bringing insights from Alain Schnapp, Michael Shanks, Isabelle Stengers, Bruno Latour, Ulrich Beck, John Urry and others to cross-disciplinary discussions of these themes, Unquiet Pasts shows how archaeological discourse can contribute towards engaging and understanding current dilemmas. It also shows how archaeology, as a localized and responsibly exercised practice, can play a part in building our commonly shared and experienced world.
Author: Peter Jordan
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1315432366
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 590
Get Book Here
Book Description
A long-overdue advancement in ceramic studies, this volume sheds new light on the adoption and dispersal of pottery by non-agricultural societies of prehistoric Eurasia. Major contributions from Western Europe, Eastern Europe and Asia make this a truly international work that brings together different theories and material for the first time. Researchers and scholars studying the origins and dispersal of pottery, the prehistoric peoples or Eurasia, and flow of ancient technologies will all benefit from this book.
