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the process of state formation in Madagascar
Author(s) -
KOTTAK CONRAD P.
Publication year - 1977
Publication title -
american ethnologist
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.875
H-Index - 78
eISSN - 1548-1425
pISSN - 0094-0496
DOI - 10.1525/ae.1977.4.1.02a00080
Subject(s) - state (computer science) , ecological succession , state formation , process (computing) , epistemology , sociology , economic geography , positive economics , ecology , geography , political science , biology , mathematics , philosophy , economics , law , computer science , politics , algorithm , operating system
This paper suggests that, rather than investigating “the origin of the state” within familiar sociopolitical typologies based on general evolution, anthropologists (I) study specific processes of state formation and (2) view sociopolitical transformations as a dynamic, continuous, processual evolution rather than as a succession of types. Data from several populations of Madagascar are used to illustrate material correlates of sociopolitical organization and the synergistic interaction of variables in specific sequences leading to state organization. Questioning the significance of distinguishing between pristine and secondary states, the article asserts that both local and regional factors must be analyzed as determinant inputs in processes of state formation.