PowerPoint for a course- Anthropology 100 (Intro to Anthropology) lecture Spring 2016

1. THE STATE AND ITS
DISCONTENTS TA JacobO. Gold (jgold3@uic.edu)
ANTH100:The Human Adventure
Professor Smith

2. PART 1: HYPOTHESIS:
PERIODS OF CRISIS AND COLLAPSE
REVEAL HOW STATES FUNCTION
AND WHY WE LIVE IN THEM.
VS.

3. SUBMITTING TO THE STATE:
A VERY EXPENSIVE SOCIAL CONTRACT
Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan (1651CE)Code of Hammurabi

4. SOME SOURCES OF STRESS:
• Climate Change, Natural Disasters
• Population Pressure
• Economic Disruption
• Inequality
• External Aggression
• Systemic Violence
• NEW IDEAS

5. CASE 1: THE FRENCH REVOLUTION (1789-1799) AND
THE HAITIAN REVOLUTION (1791-1804)
FRANCE
CROP FAILURES 
ENLIGHTENMENT IDEAS
FISCAL CRISIS
CLASS CONFLICT
CONTINENTAL
RIVALRIES 

6. HAITI
• SUGAR PLANTATION SLAVERY 
• CLASS CONFLICT
• REVOLUTIONARY
IDEAS FROM FRANCE
Jean Jacques Dessalines
(1758-1806)

7. CASE 2: COLLAPSE OF ANGKOR (CA. 800-1500CE)
• MEDIEVALWARM PERIOD ENDS
(CLIMATE INSTABILITY, DROUGHTS, FLOODS)
• HYDRAULIC SYSTEM CAN’T COPE
• SIAMESE INVASION 
• RELIGIOUS CHANGE 
• ROYAL OVERREACH?

8. PART ONE CONCLUSIONS
• STATE CRISIS CAN LEAD TO REFORM, REVOLUTION,
COLLAPSE, NEW STATES…
• STATE-LEVEL CHANGE INVOLVES MULTIPLE
FACTORS REINFORCING EACH OTHER
• “STATES” COME AND GO, BUT THE STATE
STICKS AROUND…

9. PART 2: RESISTING STATE* POWER
* OR NON-STATE ACTORS LIKE CORPORATIONS
THAT MAY ALSO HAVE STATE CONNECTIONS

10. WEAPONS OF THE WEAK: EVERYDAY
FORMS OF PEASANT RESISTANCE
JAMES C. SCOTT (1985)
‘Most of the political life of subordinate groups is to be found
neither in the overt collective defiance [against] powerholders nor
in complete hegemonic* compliance, but in the vast territory
between these two polar opposites’
* Hegemony: from Greek ἡγεμονία hēgemonía, "leadership,
rule”. The established political, social, and military dominance
of one class or group over others. (Intra-state or Inter-state)

11. Public transcript: open public interaction between
superordinates and subordinates
Hidden transcript: critique of power that goes on offstage,
where the power-holders can’t see it

12. NON-VIOLENCE IS NOT “PASSIVE”
• Marches
• Sit-Ins
• Boycotts
• Protests
• Organizing

13. SOCIAL MEDIA AND 21ST CENTURY SOCIAL MOVEMENTS
SOME PROS: Platform for organizing; Harder for state
authority to disrupt.
SOME CONS: “Substitute or Substance?”, “Noise” …

14. WHAT DO YOU WANT,
HOW WILL YOU GET IT?
WHAT CAN YOU DO TO HELP OTHERS?