Collapse And Transformation

Download or read book Collapse and Transformation written by Guy D. Middleton and published by Oxbow Books. This book was released on 2020-04-09 with total page 280 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The years c. 1250 to 1150 BC in Greece and the Aegean are often characterised as a time of crisis and collapse. A critical period in the long history of the region and its people and culture, they witnessed the end of the Mycenaean kingdoms, with their palaces and Linear B records, and, through the Postpalatial period, the transition into the Early Iron Age. But, on closer examination, it has become increasingly clear that the period as a whole, across the region, defies simple characterisation – there was success and splendour, resilience and continuity, and novelty and innovation, actively driven by the people of these lands through this transformative century. The story of the Aegean at this time has frequently been incorporated into narratives focused on the wider eastern Mediterranean, and most infamously the ‘Sea Peoples’ of the Egyptian texts. In twenty-five chapters written by 25 specialists, Collapse and Transformation instead offers a tight focus on the Aegean itself, providing an up-to date picture of the archaeology ‘before’ and ‘after’ ‘the collapse’ of c. 1200 BC. It will be essential reading for students and scholars of the Aegean and eastern Mediterranean regions, as well as providing data and a range of interpretations to those studying collapse and resilience more widely and engaging in comparative studies. Introductory chapters discuss notions of collapse, and provide overviews of the Minoan and Mycenaean collapses. These are followed by twelve chapters, which review the evidence from the major regions of the Aegean, including the Argolid, Messenia, and Boeotia, Crete, and the Aegean islands. Six chapters then address key themes: the economy, funerary practices, the Mycenaean pottery of the mainland and the wider Aegean and eastern Mediterranean region, religion, and the extent to which later Greek myth can be drawn upon as evidence or taken to reflect any historical reality. The final four chapters provide a wider context for the Aegean story, surveying the eastern Mediterranean, including Cyprus and the Levant, and the themes of subsistence and warfare.

Download or read book Beyond Collapse written by Ronald K. Faulseit and published by SIU Press. This book was released on 2016 with total page 553 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book interprets how ancient civilizations responded to various stresses, including environmental change, warfare, and the fragmentation of political institutions. It focuses on what happened during and after the decline of once powerful regimes, and posits that they experienced social resilience and transformation instead of collapse.

Download or read book Rituals, Collapse, and Radical Transformation in Archaic States written by Joanne M.A. Murphy and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2020-09-29 with total page 338 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Rituals, Collapse, and Radical Transformation in Archaic States explores the role of ritual in a variety of archaic states and generates discussion on how the decline in a state’s ability to continue in its current form affected the practices of ritual and how ritual as a culture-forming dynamic affected decline, collapse, and regeneration of the state. Chapters examine ritual in collapsing and regenerating archaic states from diverse locations, time periods, and societies including Crete, Mycenean and Byzantine Greece, Mesopotamia, India, Africa, Mexico, and Peru. Underscoring similarities in a variety of archaic states in the role of ritual during periods of threat, collapse, and transformation, the volume shows how ritual can be used as a stabilizing or divisive force or a connecting medium between the present to the past in an empowering way. It also highlights the diversity of ritual roles and location in similar situations and illustrates how states in close proximity and sharing many cultural similarities can respond differently through ritual to stress and contrast the different response in rural and urban settings. Through detailed, cultural specific studies, the book provides a nuanced understanding of the diverse roles of ritual in the decline, collapse, and regeneration of societies and will be important for all archaeologists involved in the important notions of state "collapse" and "regeneration".

Download or read book Understanding Collapse written by Guy D. Middleton and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2017-06-26 with total page 463 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this lively survey, Guy D. Middleton critically examines our ideas about collapse - how we explain it and how we have constructed potentially misleading myths around collapses - showing how and why collapse of societies was a much more complex phenomenon than is often admitted.

Download or read book Evolution's Edge written by Graeme Taylor and published by New Society Publishers. This book was released on 2008-07-01 with total page 321 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The brink of catastrophe or the edge of evolution? The choice is ours. Gold-winner in the "Most Likely to Save the Planet" category of the Independent Publisher Book Awards (IPPY). This brilliant book is a big-picture synthesis of the new curriculum for activists, educators, social and systems entrepreneurs, planners, and "community organizers" at all levels. Evolution's Edge is vital reading for activists, educators, progressive thinkers, and anyone concerned about the state of our world. A visually pleasing book, its generous use of graphs and charts make clear concepts such as our evolutionary footprint, projected climate change impacts, world populations and economic growth - Kolin Lymworth, The Vancouver Observer Evolution's Edge is simply outstanding - easy to read, inspiring, thoughtful. Its ability to integrate environmental challenges with spritiual issues, technological possibilites and systems evolutionary theory is fantastic. - Sohail Inayatullah, eidtor, Journal of Future Studies It is now five minutes to midnight on the doomsday clock, reflecting the fact that we are closer to assuring the obliteration of our species than we have been at any time since the early eighties. We are rapidly approaching a tipping point, where we will either transform our violent, exploitative global system into a peaceful, cooperative one, or enter a catastrophic decline. Evolution’s Edge shows that limitless economic expansion is impossible on a finite planet. Our growth-based global system will collapse as critical resources become scarce and major ecosystems fail. However, new ideas, values, and technologies can help us avoid disaster and create a better world. Using evolutionary systems theory, Evolution’s Edge explains how societies evolve and why rapid, nonlinear change is not only possible but inevitable. It describes: Collapse—how cascading crises will soon provoke system failure Transformation—how emerging technologies, ideas, values, and social organizations are supporting the evolution of a sustainable system Analysis—how societies evolve into increasingly complex and conscious systems Action—how a common, cooperative vision can accelerate constructive global change Evolution’s Edge is a practical guide to a sustainable future and is vital reading for activists, educators, progressive thinkers, and anyone concerned about the state of our world. Graeme Taylor is a social activist committed to constructive global transformation and the coordinator of BEST Futures, a project supporting sustainable solutions through researching how societies change and evolve.

Download or read book Radical Transformation written by Kevin MacKay and published by Between the Lines. This book was released on 2018-02-06 with total page 317 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “Radical Transformation is a tour de force.”– Thomas Homer-Dixon, author of The Upside of Down: Catastrophe, Creativity and the Renewal of Civilization Radical Transformation is a story about industrial civilization’s impending collapse, and about the possibilities of averting this fate. Human communities first emerged as egalitarian, democratic groups that existed in symbiotic relationship with their environments. Increasing complexity led to the emergence of oligarchy, in which societies became captive to the logic of domination, exploitation, and ecological destruction. The challenge facing us today is to build a movement that will radically transform civilization and once more align our evolutionary trajectory in the direction of democracy, equality, and ecological sustainability.

Download or read book Oregon and the Collapse of Illahee written by Gray H. Whaley and published by Univ of North Carolina Press. This book was released on 2010-06-15 with total page 316 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Modern western Oregon was a crucial site of imperial competition in North America during the formative decades of the United States. In this book, Gray Whaley examines relations among newcomers and between newcomers and Native peoples--focusing on political sovereignty, religion, trade, sexuality, and the land--from initial encounters to Oregon's statehood. He emphasizes Native perspectives, using the Chinook word Illahee (homeland) to refer to the indigenous world he examines. Whaley argues that the process of Oregon's founding is best understood as a contest between the British Empire and a nascent American one, with Oregon's Native people and their lands at the heart of the conflict. He identifies race, republicanism, liberal economics, and violence as the key ideological and practical components of American settler-colonialism. Native peoples faced capriciousness, demographic collapse, and attempted genocide, but they fought to preserve Illahee even as external forces caused the collapse of their world. Whaley's analysis compellingly challenges standard accounts of the quintessential antebellum "Promised Land."