the cultural union of neolithic and paleolithic peoples. so masculinity dominated and sadistic rigour took over from easy-paced routine. advent of masculine gods associated with power. myths of force and aggression. “Neolithic woman had as much reason to be proud of her contribution as Nuclear Age woman has a reason to be apprehensive over the… Continue reading the paleolithic-neolithic union (1.8)
Category: the city in history
the new role of the hunter (1.7)
Certainly we can do with less hunting metaphors in politics. How about something more pastoral? Like hunters, herdsman are not committed to a permanent settlement. Where the hunter roams for the kill, the herdsman roams for the life of the flock. He is “the spiritual brother of the hunter, his better self, stressing the protective… Continue reading the new role of the hunter (1.7)
the contribution of the village (1.6)
The Villager’s ideal : “to delight in their food, to be proud of their clothes, to be content with their home, to rejoice in their customs.” In India, only the village is described as permanent. It survives. It endures. “Dynasty after dynasty tumbles down. Revolution succeeds to revolution. Hindoo, Pathan, Mogul, Maharatha, Sikh, English, are… Continue reading the contribution of the village (1.6)
ceramics, hydraulics, and geotechnics (1.5)
Under woman’s dominance, the neolithic period is pre-eminently one of containers: it is an age of stone and pottery utensils, of vases, jars, vats, cisterns, bins, barns, granaries, houses, not least great collective containers like irrigation ditches and villages. I recall the jars of Cambodia. These large cisterns of water. In villages. At bus stops.… Continue reading ceramics, hydraulics, and geotechnics (1.5)
domestication and the village (1.4)
Physically permanent and socially continuous, the city betrays the experience of life as passing and uncertain. Lewis Mumford finds the source of the city’s permanence and continuity in the establishment of the village. Village life gave its inhabitants a sense of stability. From soil to seed to harvest, farming requires permanence and an interest in… Continue reading domestication and the village (1.4)
cemeteries and shrines (1.3)
Maybe I took the bus there, maybe it was a train. I certainly walked a distance. The memory isn’t clear. It was outside the city. In the suburbs, maybe past that or right on the border. It could have been right in the center of town, I couldn’t tell. It took time to get there,… Continue reading cemeteries and shrines (1.3)
animal promptings and foreshadowings (1.2)
At every level of life one trades mobility for security …. immobility for adventure. We know the experience of this to the individual. Moving to a new place means losing the security of friends, family, a job, possibly a language. The threat of mobility on any size community is by a similar exercise neither hard… Continue reading animal promptings and foreshadowings (1.2)
the city in history (1.1)
What is the city? How did it come into existence? What processes does it further: what functions does it perform: what purposes does it fulfill? Lewis Mumford opens the first chapter of The City in History with these questions in 1961. I would like to repeat those questions today. The context for studying the city… Continue reading the city in history (1.1)