1. Commonwealth, inalienable possessions, and the res publica: The anthropology of aristocratic order and the landed estate.
- Author
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Sneath, David
- Subjects
- *
ANTHROPOLOGY , *ARISTOCRACY (Social class) , *ECONOMICS & politics , *REAL property - Abstract
Annette Weiner used the term 'inalienable possessions' to describe a category of property of fundamental importance in Oceania, and in Europe, from Roman times until the eighteenth century. The archetypal form of this inalienable wealth is the landed estate - the 'immovable property' of Romano-Germanic law. This type of wealth, inherently political and carrying functions we associate with the state, has been historically produced by aristocratic social orders. I argue that classical anthropology missed the opportunity to explore aristocracy as a comparative analytical category. A reexamination of classic ethnographies reveals the importance of both aristocracy and this inalienable power-wealth, even in iconic accounts of 'egalitarian society' such as Evans-Pritchard's study of the Nuer. Further consideration of inalienable property shows it to be central to the early-modern state (Commonwealth) just as it was to the Roman republic (Res Publica), and suggests the possibility of a productive new comparative frame of analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2018
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