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African Political Models in the American Southwest: Hopi as an Internal Frontier Society
Author(s) -
Schlegel Alice
Publication year - 1992
Publication title -
american anthropologist
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.51
H-Index - 85
eISSN - 1548-1433
pISSN - 0002-7294
DOI - 10.1525/aa.1992.94.2.02a00060
Subject(s) - hopi , frontier , politics , interpretation (philosophy) , character (mathematics) , ethnology , geography , anthropology , archaeology , history , sociology , political science , law , geometry , mathematics , computer science , programming language
Most ethnological and archeological analyses of Pueblo social organization derive its particular character from the need to adapt to an arid environment. This article challenges an ecological interpretation (without dismissing ecological constraints), finding similarities between the organization of one Pueblo society, the Hopi, and features of what Kopytoff calls “internal frontier societies” in Africa. Hopi political and ceremonial organization is viewed as responding to “internal frontier” migrations.