AAA Annual Meeting Program
AAANET Home  >  Annual Meeting  > Program Search 

AAA Annual Meeting Program Details

<< Back to Search Results  |  Start New Search >>

View Session Details
Paper Information:
Type: Paper
Paper Title: HOW TO EAT WITH YOUR ELDERS: ON THE PERSISTENCE OF CULTURE
Author: GEOFF EMBERLING   
Date/Time: Thu., 8:00 AM
Co-Author(s): GEOFF EMBERLING 
Abstract: At a time when archaeology increasingly focuses on local histories, Norm Yoffee has continued to be a strong voice for the importance of big questions, grand historical narrative, and a comparative approach, even as he has critiqued neo-evolutionary models of social change. As he has pointed out, trajectories of political development vary, there is a diversity of kinds of states, and some societies simply do not fit into stages.

Neo-evolutionary models can also be criticized for ignoring history in a fundamental sense. Maya tribes are not connected with Maya states, which precludes archaeologists from posing questions about long-term continuities of culture that distinguish one civilization from another.

In this paper, then, I suggest how particular configurations of culture could persist over millennia, with examples drawn from the Middle East that focus on feasting and political practice.

Program Number: 2-0225
Session Title: COUNTERNARRATIVES OF STATE, CIVILIZATION, AND HISTORY: PAPERS IN HONOR OF NORMAN YOFFEE
Session Sponsor: Archaeology Division
Session Date/Time: Thu., 8:00 AM-11:45 AM
Organizer(s): GEOFF EMBERLING, ADAM SMITH (University of Chicago), LORI KHATCHADOURIAN (Cornell University) 
Chair(s): GEOFF EMBERLING, ADAM SMITH (University of Chicago), LORI KHATCHADOURIAN (Cornell University)  
View Session Details


Schedule-at-a-Glance

If you have any questions about the program, please contact the AAA Meetings Department at aaameetings@aaanet.org.