Feasts and Their Failures
نویسنده
چکیده
Archaeologists often interpret the physical evidence for large-scale consumption of food and beverages as the remains of feasts that successfully enhanced personal reputations, consolidated power, or ensured community solidarity. However, ethnographic accounts illustrate the potential for “feast failure”: people may or may not contribute, may or may not come to the feast, may or may not be satisfied, and may or may not repay the feast-giver in labor or obeisance. Because they involve so many logistical and material components before, during, and after the event, feasts almost always exhibit some shortcomings. These failures paradoxically provide both hosts and guests the opportunity to demonstrate their managerial skills, a factor that would have been increasingly important with the development of multiple and overlapping groups at the inception of social complexity. The use of failure-prone events as testing grounds for social integration also may explain the increased amount and diversity of feasting behavior over time.
منابع مشابه
Kuru fieldwork in 1981 … and beyond
In 1981, I was fortunate to be able to conduct epidemiological fieldwork on kuru and the experience forever changed me. At the time, the prevalence and incidence had both declined markedly. Yet, clusters of cases still occurred in various villages and questions arose of whether these were the results of the last feast held in each of these areas. I trekked throughout the kuru region, examining ...
متن کاملFrequency dependent microbial growth during cycles of feast and famine
In Nature microbial populations are subject to fluctuating nutrient levels. Nutrient abundance fluctuations are important for evolutionary and ecological dynamics in microbial communities since they impact growth rates, population sizes and microbial physiology. Here we use automated continuous-culture devices and single-cell imaging to show that when populations of Escherichia coli are subject...
متن کاملNative Gun-Powder Injuries of the Eye
In the closing months of each 3'ear a number of cases of so called "gun-powder injury" to the eyes are met with in the South of India, lhese accidents occur mostly at the time of the feasts of Deepavali (DivaliJ and Kartilc which are commonly spoken of as "cracker feasts." Ihe appearance of an injured eye is most characteristic; it looks as if a number of fine grains of red pepper had been imbe...
متن کاملBoon-companions position in Abbasid caliphs’ court (132-656)
Abbasid caliphs have always used boon-companions in planning affairs, making policies and spending time. Boon-companions has been accompanied by caliphs at most of the court ceremonies especially feasts, and sometimes at consultation meetings and acted according to their skills, knowledge and abilities depending on the circumstances and the caliph’s desire. The main question of the study is tha...
متن کامل