ANT 252 Chapter Notes - Chapter 9: Nationstates, Ethnocentrism
Document Summary
Process by which people create, compete, and use power to attain goals presumed to be for the good of the community. The exercise of political power requires legitimacy. If people have no formal political power, do they still have political. Argues that it"s important to recognize that even seemingly powerless people - people that don"t have access to official avenue of power (ex. People who aren"t able to vote, slaves, people without a choice, etc) they might still have political weapons available to us. In papua new guinea - women don"t have any power, so some women commit revenge suicide in response to abuse or shame. Her suicide shifts the burden of shame to her tormentor (often a husband) and can even mobilize her male relatives and other community members to acknowledge the injustice, forcing them to seek accountability from the offending party. An example of a pathway to power.
