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1998, Ethnographisch-archaologische Zeitschrift
Of all the West African societies, the Kingdom of Benin is the one most mentioned in contemporary European literature. Since the end of the 15th century, a great deal of material about Benin has been supplied by sailors, traders, etc., returning to Europe. However, information on the Edo people before this date is very difficult to obtain, as there was no written record and the oral record is at best rather fragmentary. But the data the scholar still obtains (plus evidence of ethnography) give reasons to argue that the pre-dynastic and the 1st (Ogiso) dynasty periods were those of different stages of the formation of the Benin society in the consequent processes of the rise of independent agricultural extended families communities, the amalgamation of a part of them in chiefdoms and their growth. At last, the reign of the Ogisos represents the first, eventually unsuccessful attempt to establish effective simultaneously supra-communal and supra-chiefdomous authority. Only the next attempt, made by the Obas was a success and that is why their dynasty exists up till now. This paper deals with the earliest stage of that process: the rise of independent communities.
The Early State, Its Alternatives and Analogues
From Local Communities to Megacommunity: Biniland in the 1 st Millennium BC–19 th Century AD2004 •
2000 •
Due to certain factors 1 the first South Arabian states arose in the area of the Internal Yemeni Lowland (al-Mashriq). At the beginning, in the early 1st millennium BC, the main area of the South Arabian civilization looked like a bow-like strip along the edge of the S ayhad desert (with the main centers in the areas of Ma rib, Timna, Shabwah and the wadis al-Jawf and Markhah–Beeston 1975a: 5; 1975b: 28; a aq h 1985: 20–21; Robin 1984: 198; 1991c: 52; 1991e: 63; 1996 &c.).
The paper provides an anthropological analysis of the socio-political system of the Kingdom of Benin during the longest and most important period of her history: from coming to power of the ruling up to now Second (Oba) dynasty presumably in the 13th century till the British colonial conquest in 1897. The course of this system formation and its basic characteristic features are outlined. It is argued that the Benin Kingdom of the 13th – 19th centuries was a supercomplex society which yet was not a state, as it was lack of the latter’s fundamental parameters. Particularly, the Benin society was not based on suprakin (territorial) social ties and there was no professional (bureaucratic) administration in it. The kin-based extended family community always remained this society’s focus, and the supracommunal institutions were built up by its matrix, what is impossible in a state. So, notwithstanding its overall socio-cultural supercomplexity, Benin was not a state but rather a specific alternative to it, labeled “megacommunity”. Its structure can be depicted as four concentric circles forming an upset cone: the extended family, the community, the chiefdom, and finally the kingdom. A number of other African and non-African examples of this underconceptualized and understudied by now type of socio-political organization are offered.
The volume represents an attempt of a complex study of the politogenetic processes in their regional and temporary variety. The authors hope that their survey can and should also promote a better understanding of the general tendencies and mechanisms of cultural and sociopolitical evolution, of the interrelation and interaction of cultural, social, and political formats in the human society. The authors believe that the use of principles and methods of the civilizational approach in politogenetic studies, on the one hand, and the inclusion of the politogenesis into the problem area of civilizations studies, on the other hand, creates the effect of novelty in terms of both anthropology and civilizations studies, enriches their scientific toolkit and expands heuristic limits.
Social Evolution and History. 2015. Vol. 14, № 2. P. 46-76.
The Benin Kingdom (13th – 19th Centuries) as a Megacommunity2015 •
The article provides an anthropological analysis of the socio-political system of the Benin Kingdom from coming to power of the Oba dynasty presumably in the 13th century till the British conquest in 1897. The course of this system formation and its basic characteristic features are outlined. It is argued that the Benin Kingdom of the 13th – 19th centuries was a supercomplex society which yet was not a state, as it was lack of the latter’s fundamental parameters. Particularly, the Benin society was not based on suprakin (territorial) social ties and there was no professional (bureaucratic) administration in it. The kin-based extended family community always remained this society’s focus, and the supracommunal institu-tions were built up by its matrix, what is impossible in a state. So, notwithstanding its over-all socio-cultural supercomplexity, Benin was not a state but rather a specific alternative to it, labeled “megacommunity”. Its structure can be depicted as four concentric circles form-ing an upset cone: the extended family, the community, the chiefdom, and finally the king-dom. A number of other African and non-African examples of this underconceptualized and understudied by now type of socio-political organization are offered.
Until quite recently, cultural evolution has commonly been regarded as the permanent teleological move to a greater level of hierarchy, crowned by state formation. However, recent research, particularly those based upon the principle of heterarchy – “... the relation of elements to one another when they are unranked or when they possess the potential for being ranked in a number of different ways” (Crumley 1995: 3) changes the usual picture dramatically. The opposite of heterarchy, then, would be a condition in society in which relationships in most contexts are ordered mainly according to one principal hierarchical relationship. This organizational principle may be called “homoarchy”. Homoarchy and heterarchy represent the most universal “ideal” principles and basic trajectories of socio-cultural (including political) organization and its transformations. There are no universal evolutionary stages – band, tribe, chiefdom, state or otherwise – inasmuch as cultures so characterized could be heterarchical or homoarchical: they could be organized differently, while having an equal level of overall social complexity. However, alternativity exists not only between heterarchic and homoarchic cultures but also within each of the respective types. In particular, the present article attempts at demonstrating that the Benin Kingdom of the 13th – 19th centuries, being an explicitly homoarchic culture not inferior to early states in the level of complexity, nevertheless was not a state as it lacked administrative specialization and pronounced priority of the supra-kin ties. The Benin form of socio-political organization can be called “megacommunity,” and its structure can be depicted as four concentric circles forming an upset cone: the extended family, community, chiefdom, and megacommunity (kingdom). Thus, the homoarchic megacommunity turns out an alternative to the homoarchic by definition (Claessen and Skalnik 1978b: 640) early state.
В монографии на максимально широкой и многообразной источниковой базе, с привлечением большого массива отечественной и зарубежной (в том числе африканской) научной литературы реконструирован ход политической истории Бенина и прослежен процесс сложения и эволюции социально-политического строя бенинского общества на протяжении нескольких тысячелетий – с III–II тыс. до н.э. до конца XV в. н.э., с периода этногенеза и социогенеза бини и до момента сложения империи. Осуществлена переоценка устоявшегося в науке взгляда на Бенин как на раннее государство: показано, что бенинское общество не являлось государственным, а воплощало в себе особый тип социально-политической организации, тем не менее, сопоставимый с ранним государством по уровню сложности.
2003 •
Civilizational Models of Politogenesis. Moscow, Inst. for Afr. Stud. Press, 2000. P. 5–34.
Civilizational Models of Politogenesis. Introduction2000 •
History in Africa
Advent of the Second (Oba) Dynasty: Another Assessment of a Benin History Key Point2003 •
Anthropos: International Review of Anthropology and …
Homoarchy as a Principle of Sociopolitical Organization. An Introduction2007 •
I THEORIES OF SOCIAL EVOLUTION
ALTERNATIVITY OF SOCIAL EVOLUTION: INTRODUCTORY NOTESTHE EARLY STATE, ITS ALTERNATIVES AND ANALOGUES. 'Uchitel' Publishing House, 2004. Edited by: Leonid E. Grinin, Robert L. Carneiro, Dmitri M. Bondarenko, Nikolay N. Kradin, and Andrey V. Korotayev ISBN: 5-7057-0547-6
The Chiefdom: Precursor of the Tribe? (Some Trends of Political Evolution in North-East Yemeni Highlands)