Let Me Tell You a Story: History, Political Theory, and Mesoamerica, Part 1
Main Article Content
Abstract
This two-part article attempts to use a novel method- creative non-fiction (or story-telling) to make a serious point about History, Political Theory, and Mesoamerica. Since Mesoamerica is a politically-sensitive topic and because any attempt to apply Political Theory to the history of ancient Mesoamerica may be met with implicit biases, the novel use of creative non-fiction-style story-telling (where all of the facts are portrayed accurately and cited) has been employed before the formal theorization is presented. This combines one of the strengths of traditional Political Theory- the use of the thought experiment with actual historical and archaeological data. The names of places and persons are present not only in the citations throughout the paper but also in the second half of the paper, which analyzes the story and reveals three important themes. This is a natural experiment in which the psychological biases of the reader are tested and allows to compare ancient Mesoamerica to other places, in this case, ancient Italy. This leads to a third theme, that the rise of ancient Mesoamerica through the Mixe-Zoquean civilization (and not the Mayans as many scholars pretend) empirically proves that Aristotle’s theory of the origins of civilization is correct. This paper is in two clear halves to show these three themes from both the theoretical-narrative and historical-empirical perspectives.
Article Details
How to Cite
Binetti, C. (2024). Let Me Tell You a Story: History, Political Theory, and Mesoamerica, Part 1. Polit Journal Scientific Journal of Politics, 4(4), 253-263. https://doi.org/10.33258/polit.v4i4.1253
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References
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Aristotle. 1984. The Politics, trans. by Carnes Lord, First Edition. . Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Boatwright, Mary Taliaferro, David Gargola, Noel Lenski, and Richard J.A. Talbert. 2004. The Romans: From Village to Empire: A History of Ancient Rome from Earliest Times to Constantine, First Edition. . Oxford, U.K.: Oxford University Press.
Brown, Chip. 2011. "El Mirador, the Lost City of the Maya: Now overgrown by jungle, the ancient site was once the thriving capital of the Maya civilization." Smithsonian Magazine. May. Accessed 2 2023, October . https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/el-mirador-the-lost-city-of-the-maya-1741461/.
Carey, Bjorn. 2006. "Earliest Mayan Writing Found in Pyramid." NBCNEWS.com. January 5. Accessed August 4, 2023. https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna10724962.
Chinchilla Mazariegos, Oswaldo. 2021. "The Southern Cities: Urban Archaeology In Pacific Guatemala and Easter Soconusco, Mexico." Journal of Archaeological Research 47-91.
Clark, John E. 2024. Correspondence. January 23-27.
Clark, John E. 2017. "Western Kingdoms of the Middle Preclassic." In The Origins of Maya States, by Loa P. Traxler and Robert J. Sharer, 123-224. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.
Coe, Michael D. and Stephen Houston. 2022. The Maya: Tenth Edition. London: Thames & Hudson.
Coe, Michael D. and Rex Koontz. 2008. Mexico: From the Olmecs to the Aztecs, Sixth Edition. London and New York: Thames & Hudson,, Inc.
Cowgill, George L. 2015. Ancient Teotihuacan: Early Urbanism in Central Mexico. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Cuevas Reyes, Francisco Apolinar. 2023. "Malpasito." Lugares INAH. Accessed August 4, 2023. https://lugares.inah.gob.mx/en/zonas-arqueologicas/zonas/1820-malpasito.html.
Editors of the Encyclopaedia Britannica, The. 2023. "Paestum." Enyclopaedia Britannica.
Gillespie, Susan. 2000. "Monuments of Laguna de los Cerros and its Hinterland." In Olmec Art and Archaeology, by John E. Clark and Mary E. Pye, 94-115. Washington, D.C.: Nationa Gallery of Art and Yale University Press.
Grube, Simon Martin and Nikolai. 2008. Chronicle of the Maya Kings and Queens: Second Edition. London: Thames & Hudson.
Hansen, Richard. 2023. Correspondence with Christopher Binetti. September 7.
Hansen, Richard D. 1991. "An Early Maya Text from El Mirador, Guatemala." In Research Reports on Ancient Maya Writing, 37, 19-32. Washington, DC.: Center for Maya Research,.
Houston, Stephen and John Robertson. 2015. "The Huastec Problem: A Linguistic and Archaeological Perspective." In The Huasteca: Culture, History, and Interregional Exchange, by Kim N. Richter and Katherine A. Faust, 19-36. Norman, Oklahoma: Oklahoma University Press.
Johnson, Kelsey Paige. 2017. "Ancient Maya Obsidian Trade: Arvin's Landing and Foster Farm,." Louisian State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College (LSU) Master's Theses, LSU Scholarly Repository. Accessed 2 2023, October . https://repository.lsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=5569&context=gradschool_theses.
Justeson, John. 2024. Correspondence. January 28.
Justeson, Terrence Kaufman and John. 2001. Epi-Olmec Hieroglyphic Writing and Texts. Austin: University of Texas- later published at https://www.albany.edu/ims/PDLMA_publications_new.html.
Kaufman, John Justeson and Terrence. 2019. "The Epi-Olmec Text on a Teotihuacan-Style Mask with Special Reference to Ritual Practices Referred to in Epi-Olmec Hieroglyphic Texts." In Tiempo Detenido, un Tiempo Suficiente: Ensayos y Narraciones Mesoamericanístas en homenaje a Alfonso Lacadena García Gallo, by Verónica Amellali Vázquez López, Felix Kupprat, Cristina Vidal Lorenzo, Gaspar Muñoz Cosme, and María Josefa Iglesias Ponce de León Harri Kettunen, 59-139. Couvin, Belgium: Wayeb Publishing.
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Lesure, Richard G. 2021. Paso de la Amada: An Early Mesoamerican Ceremonial Center, University of California, Los Angeles. All cited pages are from chapters in this book are chapters where Lesure is the sole author. Los Angeles: Cotsen Institute of Archaeology.
Lytton, Charlotte. 2023. "Long-hidden ruins of vast network of Maya cities coudl recast history." The Washington Post, May 20.
Machiavelli, Niccolò trans. by Mansfield, Harvey C. and Nathan Tarcov. 1996. Discourses on Livy. University of Chicago Press.
Macri, Martha J. 2017. "Isthmian Script at Chiapa de Corzo." Glyph Dwellers Report 56, found online at http://glyphdwellers.com/pdf/R56.pdf.
Magni, Caterina. 2008, republished 2012. "Olmec Writing- The Cascajal Block- New Perspectives." Arts& Cultures 64-81.
Marcus, Joyce. 1987. The Incriptions of Calakmul: Royal Marriage At A Maya City in Campeche, Mexico. Ann Arbor: Univeristy of Michigan Museum of Anthropology Technical Report 21.
Mathews, Peter. 2005. "Who's Who in the Classic Maya World." FAMSI (Foundation for the Advancement of Mesoamerican Studies, Inc. Accessed 2 2023, October. http://research.famsi.org/whos_who/maya_names_titles.htm.
McDonald, Katherine. 2015. Oscan in Southern Italy: Language Contact in a Fragmentary Corpus. Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge University Press.
Mora-Marin, David. 2023. "Correspondence."
Mora-Marín, David F. 2018. "Izapan Writing: Classification and Preliminary Observations." Ancient Mesoamerica 93-112.
Mora-Marín, David F. 2005. "Kaminalyuju Stela 10: Script classification and linguistic affiliation." Ancient Mesoamerica 63-87.
Mora-Marin, David F. 2020. "The Cascajal Block: New Line Drawing, Distributional Analysis, and Orthographic Patterns." Ancient Mesoamerica 210-229.
Pedley, John Griffiths. 1990. Paestum: Greeks and Romans in Southern Italy. London: Thames & Hudson.
Pool, Christopher A. 2007. Olmec Archaeology and Early Mesoamerica. New York City: Cambridge University Press.
Schmal, John. 2023, Retrieved on 2/4/2024. "Chiapas: Forever Indigenous." https://www.indigenousmexico.org/articles/chiapas-forever-indigenous.
Stark, Barbara L. 1991. Settlement Archaeology of Cerro de Las Mesas, Veracruz, Mexico. Los Angeles: Institute of Archaeology, University of California, Los Angeles.
Stark, Barbara L. and Lynette Heller. 1991. "Cerro de las Mesas Revisited: Survey in 1984-1985." In Settlement Archaeology of Cerro de las Mesas, Veracruz, Mexico, by Barbara L. Stark, Monograph 34:1-25. Los Angeles: Institute of Archaeology, University of California, Los Angeles.
Stark, Barbara L. Stark and Wesley D. Stoner. 2022. "Mixed Governance Principles in the Gulf Lowlands in Mesoamerica." Frontiers in Political Science, 1-14.
Sullivan, Timothy D. 2015. "Shifting Strategies of Political Authority in the Middle through Terminal Formative Polity of Chiapa de Corzo, Chiapas, Mexico." Latin American Antiquity 452-472.
Sullivan, Timothy D. 2009. The Social and Political Evolution of Chiapa de Corzo, Chiapas, Mexico. An Analysis of Changing Strategies of Rulership in a Middle Formative Through Early Classic Mesomaerican Center. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh (PhD dissertation), found at https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/12210118.pdf.
Wade, Lizzie. 2017. "Kings of Cooperation: The Olmec city of Tres Zapotes may have owed its longevity to a new form of government." Archaeology: A Publication of the Archaeological Institute of America (online), 1-3.
Aristotle. 1984. The Politics, trans. by Carnes Lord, First Edition. . Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Boatwright, Mary Taliaferro, David Gargola, Noel Lenski, and Richard J.A. Talbert. 2004. The Romans: From Village to Empire: A History of Ancient Rome from Earliest Times to Constantine, First Edition. . Oxford, U.K.: Oxford University Press.
Brown, Chip. 2011. "El Mirador, the Lost City of the Maya: Now overgrown by jungle, the ancient site was once the thriving capital of the Maya civilization." Smithsonian Magazine. May. Accessed 2 2023, October . https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/el-mirador-the-lost-city-of-the-maya-1741461/.
Carey, Bjorn. 2006. "Earliest Mayan Writing Found in Pyramid." NBCNEWS.com. January 5. Accessed August 4, 2023. https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna10724962.
Chinchilla Mazariegos, Oswaldo. 2021. "The Southern Cities: Urban Archaeology In Pacific Guatemala and Easter Soconusco, Mexico." Journal of Archaeological Research 47-91.
Clark, John E. 2024. Correspondence. January 23-27.
Clark, John E. 2017. "Western Kingdoms of the Middle Preclassic." In The Origins of Maya States, by Loa P. Traxler and Robert J. Sharer, 123-224. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.
Coe, Michael D. and Stephen Houston. 2022. The Maya: Tenth Edition. London: Thames & Hudson.
Coe, Michael D. and Rex Koontz. 2008. Mexico: From the Olmecs to the Aztecs, Sixth Edition. London and New York: Thames & Hudson,, Inc.
Cowgill, George L. 2015. Ancient Teotihuacan: Early Urbanism in Central Mexico. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Cuevas Reyes, Francisco Apolinar. 2023. "Malpasito." Lugares INAH. Accessed August 4, 2023. https://lugares.inah.gob.mx/en/zonas-arqueologicas/zonas/1820-malpasito.html.
Editors of the Encyclopaedia Britannica, The. 2023. "Paestum." Enyclopaedia Britannica.
Gillespie, Susan. 2000. "Monuments of Laguna de los Cerros and its Hinterland." In Olmec Art and Archaeology, by John E. Clark and Mary E. Pye, 94-115. Washington, D.C.: Nationa Gallery of Art and Yale University Press.
Grube, Simon Martin and Nikolai. 2008. Chronicle of the Maya Kings and Queens: Second Edition. London: Thames & Hudson.
Hansen, Richard. 2023. Correspondence with Christopher Binetti. September 7.
Hansen, Richard D. 1991. "An Early Maya Text from El Mirador, Guatemala." In Research Reports on Ancient Maya Writing, 37, 19-32. Washington, DC.: Center for Maya Research,.
Houston, Stephen and John Robertson. 2015. "The Huastec Problem: A Linguistic and Archaeological Perspective." In The Huasteca: Culture, History, and Interregional Exchange, by Kim N. Richter and Katherine A. Faust, 19-36. Norman, Oklahoma: Oklahoma University Press.
Johnson, Kelsey Paige. 2017. "Ancient Maya Obsidian Trade: Arvin's Landing and Foster Farm,." Louisian State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College (LSU) Master's Theses, LSU Scholarly Repository. Accessed 2 2023, October . https://repository.lsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=5569&context=gradschool_theses.
Justeson, John. 2024. Correspondence. January 28.
Justeson, Terrence Kaufman and John. 2001. Epi-Olmec Hieroglyphic Writing and Texts. Austin: University of Texas- later published at https://www.albany.edu/ims/PDLMA_publications_new.html.
Kaufman, John Justeson and Terrence. 2019. "The Epi-Olmec Text on a Teotihuacan-Style Mask with Special Reference to Ritual Practices Referred to in Epi-Olmec Hieroglyphic Texts." In Tiempo Detenido, un Tiempo Suficiente: Ensayos y Narraciones Mesoamericanístas en homenaje a Alfonso Lacadena García Gallo, by Verónica Amellali Vázquez López, Felix Kupprat, Cristina Vidal Lorenzo, Gaspar Muñoz Cosme, and María Josefa Iglesias Ponce de León Harri Kettunen, 59-139. Couvin, Belgium: Wayeb Publishing.
Latinamericanstudies. 2023. "The Olmecs: Olmec Colossal Heads." Latinamericanstudies.org. September 25. Accessed September 25, 2023. https://www.latinamericanstudies.org/olmec-colossal-heads-1.htm.
Lesure, Richard G. 2021. Paso de la Amada: An Early Mesoamerican Ceremonial Center, University of California, Los Angeles. All cited pages are from chapters in this book are chapters where Lesure is the sole author. Los Angeles: Cotsen Institute of Archaeology.
Lytton, Charlotte. 2023. "Long-hidden ruins of vast network of Maya cities coudl recast history." The Washington Post, May 20.
Machiavelli, Niccolò trans. by Mansfield, Harvey C. and Nathan Tarcov. 1996. Discourses on Livy. University of Chicago Press.
Macri, Martha J. 2017. "Isthmian Script at Chiapa de Corzo." Glyph Dwellers Report 56, found online at http://glyphdwellers.com/pdf/R56.pdf.
Magni, Caterina. 2008, republished 2012. "Olmec Writing- The Cascajal Block- New Perspectives." Arts& Cultures 64-81.
Marcus, Joyce. 1987. The Incriptions of Calakmul: Royal Marriage At A Maya City in Campeche, Mexico. Ann Arbor: Univeristy of Michigan Museum of Anthropology Technical Report 21.
Mathews, Peter. 2005. "Who's Who in the Classic Maya World." FAMSI (Foundation for the Advancement of Mesoamerican Studies, Inc. Accessed 2 2023, October. http://research.famsi.org/whos_who/maya_names_titles.htm.
McDonald, Katherine. 2015. Oscan in Southern Italy: Language Contact in a Fragmentary Corpus. Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge University Press.
Mora-Marin, David. 2023. "Correspondence."
Mora-Marín, David F. 2018. "Izapan Writing: Classification and Preliminary Observations." Ancient Mesoamerica 93-112.
Mora-Marín, David F. 2005. "Kaminalyuju Stela 10: Script classification and linguistic affiliation." Ancient Mesoamerica 63-87.
Mora-Marin, David F. 2020. "The Cascajal Block: New Line Drawing, Distributional Analysis, and Orthographic Patterns." Ancient Mesoamerica 210-229.
Pedley, John Griffiths. 1990. Paestum: Greeks and Romans in Southern Italy. London: Thames & Hudson.
Pool, Christopher A. 2007. Olmec Archaeology and Early Mesoamerica. New York City: Cambridge University Press.
Schmal, John. 2023, Retrieved on 2/4/2024. "Chiapas: Forever Indigenous." https://www.indigenousmexico.org/articles/chiapas-forever-indigenous.
Stark, Barbara L. 1991. Settlement Archaeology of Cerro de Las Mesas, Veracruz, Mexico. Los Angeles: Institute of Archaeology, University of California, Los Angeles.
Stark, Barbara L. and Lynette Heller. 1991. "Cerro de las Mesas Revisited: Survey in 1984-1985." In Settlement Archaeology of Cerro de las Mesas, Veracruz, Mexico, by Barbara L. Stark, Monograph 34:1-25. Los Angeles: Institute of Archaeology, University of California, Los Angeles.
Stark, Barbara L. Stark and Wesley D. Stoner. 2022. "Mixed Governance Principles in the Gulf Lowlands in Mesoamerica." Frontiers in Political Science, 1-14.
Sullivan, Timothy D. 2015. "Shifting Strategies of Political Authority in the Middle through Terminal Formative Polity of Chiapa de Corzo, Chiapas, Mexico." Latin American Antiquity 452-472.
Sullivan, Timothy D. 2009. The Social and Political Evolution of Chiapa de Corzo, Chiapas, Mexico. An Analysis of Changing Strategies of Rulership in a Middle Formative Through Early Classic Mesomaerican Center. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh (PhD dissertation), found at https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/12210118.pdf.
Wade, Lizzie. 2017. "Kings of Cooperation: The Olmec city of Tres Zapotes may have owed its longevity to a new form of government." Archaeology: A Publication of the Archaeological Institute of America (online), 1-3.