Anarchism in archaeology: Trivial or insightful?
There has been a surge in interest in anarchist theory among archaeologists in the past few years (e.g., Angelbeck & Grier 2012). I alternative between thinking that this approach is pointless and unnecessary, and thinking that it has something useful to offer. My focus here is on anarchist theory as a tool for understanding and explaining the past, not as a means to understand the present and not as a political position or guide to action today. In brief, it seems to me that the basic ideas of anarchist theory -- as described and used by archaeologists -- are just poor versions of anthropological theory. Archaeologists would be better off using anthropology. But on the other hand, anarchist theory as model of generative processes in urban societies may have some useful insights. Anarchist theory developed when non-anthropologists (like Peter Kropotkin), who knew little about small-scale nonwestern societies, discovered that not all social situations are hierarchical, that there ar...