Social Transformation in Old Hawaiʻi: A Bottom-up Approach

A bottom-up approach based in structuralism and Marxism cast in the “old language of rights” is used to explain traditional Hawaiian import of metric tons of poor-quality oven stone to the Waimānalo Plain, and to explain decline in the traditional use of tree firewood. The presence of poor-quality oven stones and the pattern of tree firewood use are linked to a long-term decline in the importance of rights of person and a concomitant increase of rights of property associated with the demise of lineage organization and the development of social stratification. It is argued that a bottom-up approach is more productive in the current archaeological situation than a top-down approach based in functionalism and neo-evolutionary theory.

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