Constructing Communities in the Late Roman Countryside

"This book is aimed at filling that gap. In the process, it seeks to reconnect the agrarian history of the ancient Mediterranean world with agrarian histories of other periods and other regions. I do this on the assumption that all parties might have useful insights to offer each other on questions of common interest, and with the intention of exploring certain problems that have become politically or philosophically fraught in contemporary contexts"--

Cover; Title; Copyright; Contents; Preface; List of abbreviations; Maps; Introduction: Studying rural communities in the late Roman world; Sources for the study of rural communities in late antiquity; Agrarian histories of late antiquity; Studying rural communities in the late Roman world; Chapter 1 Constituting communities: peasants, families, households; Peasants and rustici; Families and households; Community and communities; Chapter 2 What really matters: risk, reciprocity, and reputation; Risk and its management; Accessing and managing social resources

Vocabularies and practices of reciprocityThe politics of reputation; Chapter 3 Small politics: making decisions, managing tension, mediating conflict; Social differentiation and internal organization; Rationality, agency, and decision-making; Negotiating inequality; Conflict and its resolution; Chapter 4 Power as a competitive exercise: potentates and communities; Peasants, potentates, and patrons in late antiquity; Complementarity, competition, and the limits of negotiation; Chapter 5 Resistance, negotiation, and indifference: communities and potentates; Dominance, compliance, and resistance

Negotiation, collusion, and manip…