ANE 15W: Women and Power in the Ancient World
Activity Journal #2
Write a single-page double-spaced reflection addressing the prompt below using the readings and the lectures from this week. After, complete any additional pieces of the Activity Journal listed below.
One page response:
“To be an effective source of power, money [resources] must be exchanged in ways that require returns and create obligation, in other words it must be invested” (Ernestine Friedl) One of the key skills you will need to complete your final project is the ability to synthesize scholarly arguments about power and critically apply them to a case study from an ancient society. This means you need to be able to evaluate how a social system worked to either inhibit or allow women into positions of power. You must therefore understand where power in society originates, who is able to obtain it and how, as well as a woman’s relationship to the larger social system. Last week you read an article by the sociologist Michael Mann, wherein he laid out a theoretical framework for the sources of social power (i.e. political, economic, military, and ideological). This is a required reading for your final project and will provide the backbone to your analysis; your ability to synthesize and apply Mann’s model in a critical way to your case study is thus key. In order to help you develop this skill, I want you to take Mann’s framework and put it in conversation with Friedl’s work, which you encountered this week. Select one of Mann’s four sources of power (IEMP) and discuss how the above quote by Ernestine Friedl factors into his model. What role do resources play in the origins of power? Use an example to support your argument.
Additional piece(s):
• Two questions you have from the readings or videos.
• Complete the “Breaking Down Academic Articles” tutorial listed in Week 2 of the course. Use strategies from the tutorial to "break down" the Mann article and submit notes. It is suggested you use the Cornell Notes worksheet, but you are not required.