The Segmentary State
Interim Reflections
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 20054895 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Burton Stein (SOAS University of London, corresponding author) |
| Year | 1991 |
| Pages | 217-238 |
| Publication date | 1991-01-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | CHAPTER |
| Venue | De la royauté à l’État dans le monde indien (SOURCE_BOOK) |
| Publisher | Éditions de l’École des hautes études en sciences sociales (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.4000/books.editionsehess.26788 |
| OpenAlex | W4312314078 |
| ISBN | 9782713231322 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 13 |
The concept of “segmentary State” was borrowed from African ethnology and deployed in a study of the Chola kingdom of South India; it has attracted considerable criticism which, after a decade, may be useful to address in the interest of contributing to a debate on the nature of the “State” in the Indian sub-continent. Various objections to the concept spring from current ideological tendencies among Indian historians the mere labelling of which may be sufficient as a response, while other criticisms are based upon substantial intellectual grounds which evoke a reasoned defence and revision of the concept. Among the latter are those emanating from scholars of medieval kingdoms whose views, if their representations here are correct, constitute a basis for a reformulation which may be found more generally acceptable, and thus is a project for further debate and conceptual refinement. The lines along which such a reformulation might occur are suggested. These diverge from the path that seems now to be followed by the original formulator of the “segmentary State” concept, the anthropologist Aidan Southall, though they are consonant with analyses of other anthropologists who have written on South India, as well as with others who have employed segmentary analyses
Criticism · Epistemology · Ideology · Interim · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Anthropological Studies and Insights · Colonialism, slavery, and trade · Global Maritime and Colonial Histories · History · Law · Mathematics · Philosophy
| Unique citing works | 1 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,03 |
| Citation span | 1997 - 1997 (1) |
| Citation velocity | historical |
| Highly cited | No |