Fall, 2001
Oral Reports on Empires Your reports are to be oral and should last about 30 minutes; they need not be written, and you can prepare them in any way that you like. Use visual aids that you feel may aid your presentation: slides, handouts, maps, etc. You must however hand in a clearly written critical bibliography by the end of the term. In doing your research be sure to consult encyclopaedias as well as specific studies of your empire. We want a clear, analytic overview of the empire that includes a ®MDUL¯brief®MDNM¯ political history, but more importantly it should consider institutions, processes and forces that were responsible for the formation and decline of the empire. To that end, consider how the following institutions/processes change over time so as to cause the empire to rise and fall: * central authority: "king" or other; how closely are means of administration controlled -- main sources of income; what is the household and how does it function; how is succession determined; is there an active bureaucracy -- how is it controlled; how does central power erode and why? * nobility: is it hereditary; how does its relation to the central authority change; on what is its wealth and power based? * religion: what role does it play; how is it used by the central authority; what is the role of the clergy -- what is its power base? * trade: who controls it; what are the main components; how does the empire treat it; markets, raw materials, investment -- what's important and to whom ? * economy: basis, how does it work; controlled by what group; labor manpower? Trade is but one aspect of the whole economy; here you should consider whatever else seems significant about how production is regulated and wealth distributed, including access to natural resources. * military: how conscripted; promotion; rewards; who controls it; where stationed; relation to frontiers? * frontiers: how regulated and incorporated; marginal groups; relations to center? * technology: whence the advantage over neighbors or rivals; how organized? * "culture": is there a prevailing ethos that is disseminated from the "center", how prevalent is it, how well does it last; what happens to "periphery" cultures? * communications system: does it work well, how is it maintained? * population and demography: spatial and temporal trends; are ethnic groups important, how are they treated? You can probably think of more, but concentrating on these will certainly give the class a good idea of what makes the empire work, and will also give us grounds for comparison among the many systems studied.
FINAL PAPER
Write the history of the growth, peak, and decline and collapse of an imaginary empire. You can do so in any form that you choose, but you must observe certain constraints. DO NOT USE THE EMPIRE ON WHICH YOU REPORTED IN CLASS AS YOUR MODEL! But you should have historical models for all the processes that you describe and you should note them in parentheses after each section.
Be sure that you pay special attention to the interrelationships between the various causes/effects or correlations of change in your history (e.g., there is probably a close relationship between expansion of the army, the role of the military in palace affairs and in social mobility, pressures on the manpower supply, and increased costs for the government which need to be met somehow). You should focus particularly on the nature of the change taking place in your empire, it is bound to be complicated and highly interactive and you should sort out the various strands and be clear about them. Finally, you are to consider various interpretations of imperial change that you have read or that we have discussed, and use one or more of them specifically as explanations for what is happening in your empire (e.g., Cohen, Wesson, Weber, McNeill, Finley, Doyle, Tainter, Yoffee and Cowgill, etc.).
You should include the following elements and discuss their importance to the progress of your empire.
GEOGRAPHY: soils, rivers, mountains, seas, communications routes, frontiers, neighboring peoples.
ECONOMICS: nature of the subsistence base and how goods are distributed through the economy (consumption-centered; center-periphery relationships); surplus production and its control; the market system; role of industry (technology) and commerce in the economy; the tax base and its change over time, how are taxes collected and allocated; is there a state budget? Are there devices like liturgies, state contracts, state vs. private enterprise, inflation, slavery, changes in land-tenure practices, tax exemptions? Relations between booty, tribute, tariffs, taxes?
SOCIAL ORGANIZATION: what is the dominant class structure of the empire, on what is it based, is there slavery; what is the effect of outsiders on the class structure, is there evidence of assimilation to new forms; how are different ethnicities treated; what kind of social mobility is there, what is it based on; what other kinds of associations are there; what is assimilation or acculturation of conquered areas like?
POLITICAL ORGANIZATION: how is your empire organized and ruled (how is the ruler selected, succession, constitution, councils, provinces, courts, etc.); how do people get into government; what are the benefits of citizenship; how does the bureaucracy work, what kind is it, who appoints it, is it hereditary, what does it control; what kind of military is there, how is it recruited and how administered; is there a police force, palace guard, secret police; what are the "means of administration"; what are the main "estates" of your empire and how do they relate to each other?
RELIGION AND IDEOLOGY: is there a dominant religion, many sects, how are religions reconciled; what is the prevailing ethic, how is it disseminated in the empire, how is it manifest in daily life, how are people educated to the ethic; what is the spirit of patriotism of the citizens based on, what role does it play in your empire's evolution; what role does the clergy play; if there is moral decay, what causes it?
CULTURE: is there a high culture (art, music, literature, general sense of belonging to the imperial elite) that sets this empire off from others; does it change significantly over time with any consequences to the system?
TECHNOLOGIES: do these play an important role in the growth and decline of your empire? What are communications like; what role do they play in imperial history? What is technological (industrial) policy like?
FOREIGN POLICY: what kinds of neighbors does your empire have, how are they treated, how are the frontiers maintained, how does this affect foreign policy; what is role of prestige in your international relations?
HEALTH-RELATED FACTORS: do disease, plague, malnutrition, high infant mortality, changing fertility rates, affect the evolution of your empire?
Do NATURAL DISASTERS or CLIMATIC CHANGE occur on a time-scale that will affect the other changes taking place in your empire?
It is important that you are very clear about the structural features of your empire and that you show them changing in such a way that they are the cause of the decline of your empire. In other words, mere invasion of the borders of your empire is not sufficient explanation for its collapse since the armies should be adequate to defend it. But if the armies are weak for a number of reasons such as manpower shortages, alienation, inadequate revenues due to something else, then you begin to have a reasonable explanation for decline.
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Please "word-process", double-spacing and leaving large margins, using a font of 10 point or more; maps, charts and other visual aids are appreciated.
Hand papers in by last day of classes, Wednesday, December 12 -- lateness will require a reasonable excuse. You will be able to pick them up at the Anthropology office (16-223) about a week later.
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