Ancient Southeast Mesoamerica: Political Economies Without the State

Ancient Southeast Mesoamerica explores the distinctive development and political history of the region from its earliest inhabitants up to the Spanish conquest. It was composed of a matrix of social networks rather than divided by distinct cultures and domains. Making use of the area's rich archaeological data, Edward Schortman and Patricia Urban provide a social network analysis of southeast Mesoamerica. They demonstrate how inhabitants from different locales were organized within such networks, and how they mobilized the assets that they needed to define and achieve their own goals. The also provide evidence for the actions of other groups, who sought to promote their importance at local and regional scales, and often opposed those efforts. Schortman and Urban's study demonstrates the fresh insights gained from study of socio-political structures via a social network perspective. It also challenges models that privilege the influence of powerful leaders in shaping those structures.

《古代東南美洲》探索了該地區從最早的居民到西班牙征服時期的獨特發展和政治歷史。該地區由一個社會網絡矩陣組成，而不是由不同的文化和領域劃分。愛德華·舒爾特曼（Edward Schortman）和帕特里夏·厄班（Patricia Urban）利用該地區豐富的考古數據，提供了東南美洲社會網絡分析。他們展示了不同地方居民如何在這些網絡中組織起來，以及他們如何動員所需的資源來確定和實現自己的目標。他們還提供了其他團體行動的證據，這些團體試圖在地方和區域尺度上提升自己的重要性，並經常反對這些努力。舒爾特曼和厄班的研究展示了通過社會網絡視角研究社會政治結構所獲得的新見解。它還挑戰了那些偏重強大領導者影響這些結構的模型。