Ancient Maya commoners [[electronic resource] /] / edited by Jon C. Lohse and Fred Valdez, Jr

• Record Nr.: UNINA9910777694903321
• Pubbl/distr/stampa: Austin, : University of Texas Press, 2004
• ISBN: 0-292-79723-0
• Edizione: [1st ed.]
• Descrizione fisica: 1 online resource (312 p.)
• Altri autori (Persone): LohseJon C. <1968->; ValdezFred, Jr., <1953->
• Disciplina: 972.81/01
• Soggetti: Mayas - Social conditions; Mayas - Antiquities; Working class - Central America - History; Social structure - Central America - History; Land settlement patterns - Central America
• Lingua di pubblicazione: Inglese
• Formato: Materiale a stampa
• Livello bibliografico: Monografia
• Note generali: "Most of these papers were originally presented as part of a symposium organized for the 1999 American Anthropological Association meetings held in Chicago, IL"--Acknowledgements.
• Nota di bibliografia: Includes bibliographical references and index.
• Nota di contenuto: ""Contents""; ""Acknowledgments""; ""Chapter 1. Examining Ancient Maya Commoners Anew (Jon C. Lohse and Fred Valdez, Jr.)""; ""Chapter 2. Daily Life in a Highland Maya Community: Zinacantan in Mid-Twentieth Century (Evon Z. Vogt)""; ""Chapter 3. The Role of Pottery and Food Consumption among Late Preclassic Maya Commoners at Lamanai, Belize (Terry G. Powis)""; ""Chapter 4. Of Salt and Water: Ancient Commoners on the Pacific Coast of Guatemala (Barbara Arroyo)""; ""Chapter 5. Down on the Farm: Classic Maya ""Homesteads"" as ""Farmsteads"" (Nicholas Dunning)""; ""Chapter 6. Intra-Site Settlement Signatures and Implications for Late Classic Maya Commoner Organization at Dos Hombres, Belize (Jon C. Lohse)""""Chapter 7. Heterogeneous Hinterlands: The Social and Political Organization of Commoner Settlements near Xunantunich, Belize (Jason Yaeger and Cynthia Robin)""; ""Chapter 8. The Spatial Mobility of Non-Elite Populations in Classic Maya Society an Its Political Implications (Takeshi Inomata) ""; ""Chapter 9. Commoners in ; Postclassic Maya Society: Social versus Economic Class Constructs (Marilyn A. Masson and Carlos Peraza Lope) ""; ""Chapter 10. Methods for Understanding Classic Maya Commoners: Structure Function, Energetics, and More (Nancy Gonlin) """"Chapter 11. Maya Commoners: The Stereotype and the Reality (Joyce Marcus) ""; ""Contributors ""; ""Index ""
• Sommario/riassunto: Much of what we currently know about the ancient Maya concerns the activities of the elites who ruled the societies and left records of their deeds carved on the monumental buildings and sculptures that remain as silent testimony to their power and status. But what do we know of the common folk who labored to build the temple complexes and palaces and grew the food that fed all of Maya society? This pathfinding book marshals a wide array of archaeological, ethnohistorical, and ethnographic evidence to offer the fullest understanding to date of the lifeways of ancient Maya commoners. Senior and emerging scholars contribute case studies that examine such aspects of commoner life as settlement patterns, household organization, and subsistence practices. Their reports cover most of the Maya area and the entire time span from Preclassic to Postclassic. This broad range of data helps resolve Maya commoners from a faceless mass into individual actors who successfully adapted to their social environment and who also held primary responsibility for producing the food and many other goods on which the whole Maya society depended.

Direct deliberative democracy : how citizens can rule / / Jack Crittenden, Debra J. Campbell

• Record Nr.: UNINA9910818409903321
• Autore: Crittenden Jack
• Pubbl/distr/stampa: Montreal : , : Black Rose Books, , [2019]; ©2019
• ISBN: 1-55164-673-0
• Descrizione fisica: 1 online resource (179 pages)
• Disciplina: 321.8
• Soggetti: Deliberative democracy - Technological innovations
• Lingua di pubblicazione: Inglese
• Formato: Materiale a stampa
• Livello bibliografico: Monografia
• Nota di contenuto: Intro -- Table of Contents -- Introduction: Direct Deliberative Democracy...Why Not? -- Chapter One: A Democracy or a Republic? -- Chapter Two: Democracy in Earlier America -- Chapter Three: What's Wrong with Initiatives? -- Chapter Four: Autonomy and Deliberation -- Chapter Five: Legislative Juries -- Chapter Six: The Power of Dialogue and Deliberation -- Chapter Seven: Civic and Democratic Education -- Conclusion -- Notes -- Bibliography.
• Sommario/riassunto: As American politics becomes ever more dominated by powerful vested interests, positive change seems permanently stymied. Left out in the cold by the political process, citizens are frustrated and despairing. How can we take back our democracy from the grip of oligarchy and bring power to the people? In Direct Deliberative Democracy, Jack Crittenden and Debra Campbell offer up a better way for government to reflect citizens' interests. It begins with a startlingly basic question: "Why don't we the people govern"? In this provocative book, the authors mount a powerful case that the time has come for more direct democracy in the United States, showing that the circumstances that made the Constitutional framers' arguments so convincing more than two hundred years ago have changed dramatically, and that our democracy needs to change with them. With money, lobbyists, and corporations now dominating local, state, and national elections, the authors argue that now is the time for citizens to take control of their government by deliberating together to make public policies and laws ; directly. At the heart of their approach is a proposal for a new system of "legislative juries," in which the jury system would be used as a model for selecting citizens to create ballot initiatives. This would enable citizens to level the playing field, bring little-heard voices into the political arena, and begin the process of transforming our democracy into one that works for, not against, its citizens.