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Definition
Most known for his ideason Orientalism. He argued that Orientalist scholarships was and is inextricably tied to the imperialist societies that produce it, making much of the work inheretnly politicized, servile to power, and therefore suspect.
- Considered of the most influential writers in the humanities and social sciences
- Four main ideas:
- Scholarship is Political
- Scholarship is Powr
- Power in Scholarship is very Acute in a colonial/Imperial Context
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Term
| Edward Said: Scholarship is Political |
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Definition
| Scholars are embedded in particular political world, they are not separate form it (i.e. a history professor is a member of academia as well as a member of society). This shapes/influences the way scholars think, teach, etc. |
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| Edward Said: Scholarship is Power |
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Definition
- The act of just producing knowledge is an act of power, it imposes a type of order, hierarchy overy knowledge.
- Scholarshisp is particularlrly a power when it comes to producing knowledge about cultures other than our. When we study others we are in power, we control their story.
- The different styles of thinking ocntinue to make particular relationships of power.
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Term
| Edward Said: Power in Scholarship is Very Acute in a Colonial/Imperial Context |
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| Types of Economy in the Dynastic Period |
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Definition
| Shift from tribute economy to a |
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| Dixon's Theory of Ur Burials |
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Definition
| In an attmept to maintian and legitmize their status, b/c of their weak political order, the Ur royalty staged this burial to pronounce their divine legitimacy. These burials were a "public transcript" designed to make it believe that everyone agrees. They used cruelty and violence to coerce their people. |
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| V.G. Childes - Oasis Hypothesis |
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Definition
- The shift to the Holocene Era had a huge effect on the climate of the Near East so that it began to dry out, plces that were previously fertile became deserts.
- What remained are a few isolated oases, particularly alog the major rivers (Tigris, Euphrates, & Nile).
- As a result of these few water sources, humans and animals were forced to live side by side to get hydration. In interacting with animals so intimately, humans saw the potential benifits of controlling these animals and this led to the domestication of animals.
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| V.G. Childes - Oasis Hypothesis: Criticism |
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Definition
- Palynology (study of pollen remains) reveleaed that Childes were wrong. Plants were actually thriving during this period, thus moisture was required and there could not have been widespread dessification in the Near East.
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| Braidwood's "Hilly Flanks of the Fertile Crescent" Theory |
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Definition
Proposes that the"hillly flanks" region would be the ideal place for the beginnings of agriculture b/c of its adequate rainfall and because there exists wild species of plants and animals that we can assume are the ancestors of the first domesticated plants and animals.
- This was in contrast to Child's Oasis Hypothesis not only b/c it argued that there was indeed rainfall in the region, but also b/c it as a cutlrual argumetn instead of an environmental one.
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| "False Start" Younger Dryas Push Theory |
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Definition
| A theory stating that the transition to the Holocene with its increase in temperature and rainfall made people become accustomed to the weather. But the lower temps that the Younger Dryas Period brought made people have to change their ways. Humans had to figure out a more intensive method to exploiting thier environment which gave rise to agriclture and domestication. |
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| A time of primitive technological and social development toward the end fo the "Stone Age". The Neolithic period saw the development of early villages, agriculture, animal domestication, tools, and the onset of the earliest recorded incidents of warfare. |
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| first evidence of specialization in labor |
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Definition
| During the Uruk Period. Specialization in labor is suggested by the Warka Vase and its intense craftsmanship |
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