gunnar haaland
I was borne in 1938 in Norway, and was awarded my Ph.D in Social Anthropology in 1966. My research has focused on Human Ecology, Economic Anthropology, Ethnic relations, and Socio-cultural Evolution. I have pursued this research in applied and basic research in several countries, most importantly Sudan, Ethiopia, Nepal, Bangladesh and China. In 1967 I was employed as lecturer, and from 1988 until present as Professor at Department of Social Anthropology, University of Bergen (Uof). On leave from UofB I have been employed two years as lecturer at the University of Karthoum, Sudan, and two years as Director of the Social Sciences at The International Livestock Centre for Africa in Addis Abeba. I have worked as Consultant for The World Bank, FAO, IFAD, ILO as well as NGO’s in about 20 countries in Africa and Asia. Over the last twelve years I have been heavily involved in cooperation with universities in Africa (Sudan, Ethiopia and Uganda) and in Asia (Nepal, Bangladesh and China). From 2005 to 2008 I organized joint courses for Chinese and Norwegian Students on ‘Globalization Issues’ at Fudan University in Shanghai; and on ‘Ethnic Relations’ at Yunnan Nationalities University in Kunming.
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of Sudan is fraught with methodological difficulties. Egyptian, Greek,
and Roman written sources give some clues, but the Meroitic script is
still not interpreted. The large slag mounds in the ancient capital of
Meroe indicate that iron production played an important role, but this
cannot serve as a sufficient explanatory cause for the maintenance of
centralized power. In addition to its iron production, written and
archaeological remains both testify to the importance of the strategic
location of Meroe in the trade networks between Africa and Egypt.
However, maintenance of state power over a thousand years requires
more than control over material resources. The stability of political
centers is significantly dependent on a legitimating ideology. Here, we
draw particular attention to the images and temples dedicated to the
war god Apedemak; he is symbolically associated with rulers, as well as with iron production. Drawing on comparative ethnography and
the sociology of caste we suggest that the material remains are consistent
with a redistributive political economy based on caste-like
principles.as with iron production. Drawing on comparative ethnography and
the sociology of caste we suggest that the material remains are consistent
with a redistributive political economy based on caste-like
principles.
of Sudan is fraught with methodological difficulties. Egyptian, Greek,
and Roman written sources give some clues, but the Meroitic script is
still not interpreted. The large slag mounds in the ancient capital of
Meroe indicate that iron production played an important role, but this
cannot serve as a sufficient explanatory cause for the maintenance of
centralized power. In addition to its iron production, written and
archaeological remains both testify to the importance of the strategic
location of Meroe in the trade networks between Africa and Egypt.
However, maintenance of state power over a thousand years requires
more than control over material resources. The stability of political
centers is significantly dependent on a legitimating ideology. Here, we
draw particular attention to the images and temples dedicated to the
war god Apedemak; he is symbolically associated with rulers, as well as with iron production. Drawing on comparative ethnography and
the sociology of caste we suggest that the material remains are consistent
with a redistributive political economy based on caste-like
principles.as with iron production. Drawing on comparative ethnography and
the sociology of caste we suggest that the material remains are consistent
with a redistributive political economy based on caste-like
principles.
E a r ly Fa r m i ng societies along t h e N il e
Oxford Handbook of African Archaeology