Anthropology and Global History explains the origin and development of human societies and cultures from their earliest beginnings to the present-utilizing an anthropological lens but also drawing from sociology, economics, political science, history, and ecological and religious studies. Carmack reconceptualizes world history from a global perspective by employing the expansive concepts of "world-systems" and "civilizations," and by paying deeper attention to the role of tribal and native peoples within this history. Rather than concentrating on the minute details of specific great events in global history, he shifts our focus to the broad social and cultural contexts in which they occurred. Carmack traces the emergence of ancient kingdoms and the characteristics of pre-modern empires as well as the processes by which the modern world has become integrated and transformed. The book addresses Western civilization as well as comparative processes which have unfolded in Asia, the Middle East, Latin America, and sub-Saharan Africa. Vignettes opening each chapter and case studies integrated throughout the text illustrate the numerous and often extremely complex historical processes which have operated through time and across local, regional, and global settings.
Contents INTRODUCTION CHAPTER 1 DEFINING WORLD-SYSTEMS AND CIVILIZATIONS Vignette: A World-System and Civilization Framework for Understanding the 9/11 Twin Towers Attack Conceptualizing World-Systems Case Study 1: Construction of a Hydroelectric dam in a Peripheral Costa Rican Community Conceptualizing Civilizations Case Study 2: Wilkinson's Argument that "Civilizations are World Systems" CHAPTER 2 HISTORY OF TRIBAL SOCIETIES AND CULTURES Vignette: First Contacts with the Papuan Tribal Peoples of New Guinea Historical Overview of Tribal Societies and Cultures Pre-Historic Transformation from Bands to Tribes Case Study 3: Yanomami Tribal Peoples Historical Emergence of Tribal Chiefdoms Case Study 4: Powhatan Chiefdom Contemporary "Tribal Nations" (Australian Aborigines, Waziristan Pashtun Tribes, Garifuna) CHAPTER 3 HISTORY OF ANCIENT TRIBUTARY SOCIETIES AND CULTURES Vignette: Understanding an Ancient Cuneiform Tablet from Mesopotamia Historical Overview of the Ancient Eurasian Tributary Societies and Cultures Ancient Fertile Crescent (Mesopotamia, Egypt and Northeast Africa, Persia) Case Study 5: Emergence of Ancient Israel and Judaism Ancient Asia (China, India) Ancient Europe (Greece, Rome) Case Study 6: Samir Amin's Perspective on the Ancient Network of Eurasian World-Systems and Classic Civilizations CHAPTER 4 HISTORY OF LATE PRE-MODERN TRIBUTARY SOCIETIES AND CULTURES Vignette: Mohammed the Messenger, Founder of an Islamic State and Religion Historical Overview of Late Pre-Modern Eurasian Societies and Cultures Imperial Core Powers of the Late Pre-Modern Eurasian World-System (Islamic, Chinese, and Byzantine empires) Case Study 7: Mediating Role of India within the Thirteenth-Century Eurasian Trade Network Feudal Peripheries of the Late Pre-Modern Eurasian World-System (Western Europe, Japan) Case Study 8: Russia, from Feudalism to Empire Late Pre-Modern "Outer Peripheral" and "Frontier" States (Sub-Sahara African States,Late Pre-Modern New World "Frontier" States) Case Study 9: Quetzalcoatl, a Mesoamerican Frontier Culture Hero CHAPTER 5 HISTORY OF THE MODERN WORLD-SYSTEM AND ITS "OCCIDENTAL" CIVILIZATION Vignette: Queen Elizabeth at the Dawn of the Modern Era Defining "Occidentalism" Modern World-System and Its Western Core Powers Case Study 10: U.S. rise to World-System Hegemony Western Civilization and Its Impact on the Modern World-System Modern World-System Periphery and Resistance to the Western Core Powers Case Study 11: Occidentalism and Resistance through Heroic Suicide CHAPTER 6 HISTORY OF THE MODERN WORLD-SYSTEM AND ITS "ORIENTAL" CIVILIZATIONS Vignette: Empress Dowager Cixi and Xuan Tong (Pu Yi), the Last Chinese Emperor Defining "Orientalism" Asia in the Context of the Modern World-System Periphery (China, Japan) Case Study 12: The Changing Role of Caste in Modern India Middle East in the Context of the Modern World-System Periphery Case Study 13: Iraq and the Saddam Hussein Wars CHAPTER 7 HISTORY OF THE MODERN WORLD-SYSTEM AND ITS "POST-COLONIAL" CIVILIZATIONS Vignette: Initial Encounter between Spanish Colonizers and the Inka Defining "Post-Colonialism" Latin America in the Context of the Modern World-System Periphery Case Study 14: The Virgin of Guadalupe Cult, a Post-colonial Mexican Legacy Sub-Sahara Africa in the Context of the Modern World-System Periphery Case Study 15: Post-Colonial Symbolism and Indigenous Leaders in Modern South Africa CHAPTER 8 HISTORICAL ROUTES TO MODERNIZATION WITHIN THE MODERN WORLD-SYSTEM: DEVELOPMENT AND REVOLUTION Vignette: Robespierre and the French Revolution Modernization through Development Case Study 16: Development in Turkey Modernization through Revolution Case Study 17: Revolution in Nicaragua Failed Development, Failed Revolution Case Study 18: Rwanda's Failed Development and Failed Revolution CHAPTER 9 HISTORY OF POST-MODERNIZATION AND THE FUTURE OF THE MODERN WORLD-SYSTEM AND ITS CIVILIZATIONS Vignette: McWorld vs. Jihad Defining the "Post-Modernization Case Study 19: U.S. Modernism Versus European Post-Modernism Defining the "Postmodern" Perspective Case Study 20: Michele Foucault, a Pioneer Postmodernist Competing Perspectives on the Future of the Modern World (Postmodern, Social History, Anthropological, World-System, and Civilizations) Summary and Conclusions Glossary Bibliography Index About the Author
