Unit 1 Key Terms and Concepts Flashcards
World History
What is common among all people. Historical patterns that are distinctively pan-human in nature.
Networks of exchange
trade, migration, cultural exchange. anything that connects historical hierarchies
Hierarchies of power
states, countries, kingdoms, empires, or even nations
Cultural frameworks
What makes the “room” its own environment/lens
Cognitive-linguistic revolution
linguistic capacity to communicate abstract thoughts to others through symbols. Creation of social hierarchies, networks of exchange and cultural frames
Collective learning
The ability of a species to retain more information with one generation than is lost by the next
Mimetic culture
causes a fairly uniform culture within hunting and gathering bands. Learning through imitation
Symbolic culture
Sense of self. Purpose and meaning. Art and beauty. Having time for these things
Hunting-gatherer energy regime
The energy exertion to capture ration for food is inefficient and there is almost no surplus
nomadism
No permanent residence because of gathering food and following herds
band
Small nomadic groups connected to other bands/tribes through short-range network connections. Kinship
Tribe
Larger groups because they started to settle in fruitful areas. Start the use of permanent housing
Hunter-gatherer society
Egalitarianism in politics, economics and gender statuses. Rituals of inclusion
Tribalism and in-group dynamics
band or tribe, daily interaction, life-long relationships, common
Tribalism out-group dynamics
Mistrust, caution, violence. Anyone outside of tribe/band.
Agricultural Revolution
Started settling and finding opportunities to store food. the second great transformation of humans relationship to their environment
Domestication of plants and animals
Selective breeding and effecting the process of evolution by causing the plants and animals to be reliant on the humans. Created advantages for groups with these plants and animals
Pre-state, post-agricultural revolution village
didn’t become state-level because warlike societies lost too much of their wealth in warfare. There were no resources for coercion or to support a more specialized organization (specialist warriors who monopolized)
State
A coercive organization of people that monopolizes the legitimate use of violence within its territory. Social technology created to solve problems. Sovereign governments
The beast
Male propensity towards violence. Humans have to compete with each other. Hobbes vs Rousseau debate
Roving Bandit
Stationary bandit
Protect village to receive their own gain
Caging
Geography prevents spreading out so there has to be competition between bandits and societies
Red Queen Effect
increased pressure to adapt faster to survive
Script vs Language
written achieved an appearance of permanence and timelessness denied to oral culture, even though oral traditions can be quite stable
Great cultural divide
The differences between elite and non-elite culture in the agrarian world. Elite= unitary, transregional, written. Non-elite= multicultural, localist and oral
Writing and collective learning and power
Elites
Culture frames
set of culture values and assumptions fundamental to the culture’s understanding of the world and themselves
Cultural screens
contested issues like debates between different schools of thought
Low and Slow in agricultural pyramid
Low productivity, slow communication. Compared to today, productivity is low because only a small group doesn’t need to work
River Valleys and early civilization
River valleys allowed for unification in civilizations. Created caging so civilizations needed to improve and compete with one another
Sumeria
Pyramid: King, elites (priests, scribes, warriors), peasants, slaves and conscripts.
Culture frame: Unpredictable gods
Culture Screen: divine kingship, sacrifice, unpleasant afterlife
The flooding patterns correlated with their beliefs and rulers
Egypt
Pyramid: Pharoah, elites (priests and scribes), peasants and conscripts
Frame: benevolent gods
Screen: divine kings, afterlife
Harappan
We don’t know with certainty how it was structured because the writing on clay seals are too fragmented to be deciphered. Perhaps a king and priestly elites, but these are only speculations
Shang
Oracle bones. Unification under one ruling family. Low intensity warfare. human sacrifice
Pyramid: King, elites (priest/warriors, scribes)
Frame: will of heaven
Screen: kingship divination and warrior honor.
Norte Chico
Earliest state-level society in the Americas
Probably invented quipu (knots in colored strings as a record-keeping technology)
Olmec
First Mesoamerican state-level society out of competition between chiefdoms. Warfare, writing and ritual ball game and human sacrifice. Slowest to reach state-level organization
Pyramid: Kings, elites (priests)
Atra-hasis: Babylonian Myth
The birth goddess, Belet-ili, sacrifices a god to create mankind and is called Mistress-of-All-the-Gods (Belet-kala-ili)
Rig Veda: Indian Myth
The gods were born and created the worlds and opposites, but it isn’t certain who knows how
Genesis: Hebrew Myth
God created the earth in segments and placed man on earth to learn to obey God
Yijing: Chinese Myth
Creative and receptive differences between nature and males and females. Very focused on patterns.
Popo Vuh: Mayan Myth
Made earth from sky and void, but humans caused complications in creation and needed to be redone.
Kojiki: Japanese Myth
Focusing on the role of females to take their place after males for creation to be successful. The children were strong when the god approached the goddess first.
Agricultural revolution time period
12,000 to 5,000 BCE
Hunter Gatherer Era time period
Beginning (200,000) - 10,000 BCE
