Date:Janurary 19, 2009 (Mon.) 16：00-18：00PM
Venue:Inamamori Memorial Hall, the 3rd of floor
Title: The Rise and Fall of Political Power in Andean Civilization
Presentation:Yuji Seki (National Museum of Ethnology)
In a departure from the Asia and Africa regions, which were the major forums for Paradigm Formulation group, this seminar featured a report on the results from archeological studies on the “formative period” of the Andes region.
Based on the findings of Japanese studies on the region over the past forty years, Professor Yuji Seki of the National Museum of Ethnology gave a presentation focusing on the problem of power, approaching the problem from the aspect of changes in control over resources of power, such as economy, military and ideology. The archeological method, which visualizes and elucidates how such resources of power were produced and distributed, by examining diverse remains, including the shapes of earthenware shards and skulls, remains of canal irrigation, construction techniques for stylobates and traces of starch grains, provided great stimulus for researchers in social sciences and humanities who are used to analyzing abstract and invisible things in contemporary society, such as “power” and “nation.” Furthermore, his analytical method, which applies analysis of iconography and weapons, isotopic analysis and collagen analysis, was truly interdisciplinary and thus was very much suggestive considering the goals of the GCOE.
In the questions and answers session, Professor Yasuyuki Nagafuchi (Nagoya Institute of Technology), the commentator, raised a question that touched upon the bedrock of Professor Seki’s presentation, by bringing up theories on the powers of kings in Asia. Specifically, his question involved: (1) the perspective of evolutionism contained in the way that various societies are presented as cases; (2) the relevance of discussing the question of power in terms of the three categories, i.e. economy, military and ideology; (3) the problem of power (does it exist without exceptions?); and (4) the problems of long-distance trade and exchange. Many questions were raised from the floor, involving the mechanism of micro-governance in society at that time, the source of support for long-distance trade at the time, and the infrastructure that allowed the expansion of the scale of temple architecture and its relations with the economy. Professor Seki gave answer to each of the questions based on specific findings from the relevant surveys, although he expressed some reservations, admitting that he could not answer all of the questions raised. In his answers, Professor Seki presented the hypothesis that power is not an element that brings forth the gigantic shrine facilities, but rather that power emerges as a result of the practice of constructing the shrine facilities.
As Professor Seki touched upon at the outset of his presentation, the Andean civilization is considered one of the five major world civilizations, and that like the other civilizations, a process can be observed where the society was created through people’s interactions with the local ecology, with the society then spreading into diverse environments. The development of Andean civilization, part of which was highlighted by this presentation, contained suggestions for the participants in considering alternative forms of development, which are different from the Western type.
(Shuhei Kimura)