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Use your claim-testing skills to evaluate the evidence Eman M. Elshaikh incorporates into her article about village networks.

Download “Village Networks”

Note: For more detailed directions on completing the three close reads below, refer to the Three Close Reads – Introduction activity.

Skim

Before you read, you should quickly skim the article, by looking at the headings of each section and the charts. Read the questions below as well, so you know what to look for when you read!

Key Ideas

1. What was life like in early farming villages?
2. How was life in early farming villages different from life in hunter-gatherer communities?
3. What do we know about women’s lives in early farming villages? How did this change as early farming villages grew?
4. What are some examples of trade between villages? How do historians know about this trade?
5. How did changes in production and distribution affect communities?
6. In what ways did village networks affect the population of villages, towns, and cities?

Evaluate

1. Because there’s a lack of written records from early villages, historians and anthropologists mostly rely on archaeological data as evidence. What do you think are some of the limitations of archaeological evidence? Are there any pieces of evidence presented in this article that you could interpret differently than the author did?

Before you watch

Before you watch the video, it’s a good idea to open and skim the video transcript. And always read the questions below so you know what to look and listen for as you watch!

While you watch

1. What do the earliest civilizations have in common? What does food have to do with civilization?
2. People often use the term “civilized” to mean having a refined culture. Does John Green agree with this definition? If not, what does he think is a more historically accurate way to understand the concept of civilization?
3. What do states have to do with barbarians? As people who live in states, what three things do we tend to assume about states? 
4. What two things are really important for the power of the state? What’s needed to make sure those two things can happen? 
5. What is James Scott’s “big idea” about people who live in the hills? What other evidence—from other authors—does John Green present which may corroborate Scott’s idea? 
6. What are some benefits to life in the hills? What are some drawbacks?
7. Where is Zomia and how many people live there? What’s unique about this region? 
8. What makes it difficult for historians to understand people living outside of states? 

After you watch

1. Using evidence from the video and anything else you have learned, make a claim about whether it’s more advantageous to live outside a state, like people in Zomia, or within a state, like people in the United States or China. For whom might it be advantageous, and for whom might it pose problems? Provide specific reasons and use specific evidence to support your reasoning.

Note: For more detailed directions on completing the three close reads below, refer to the Three Close Reads – Introduction activity.

Skim

Before you read, you should quickly skim the article, by looking at the headings of each section and the charts. Read the questions below as well, so you know what to look for when you read!

Key Ideas

1. In what ways was farming “uneven?”
2. What is the relationship between living a sedentary life and cultivating or domesticating food?
3. What was central to nomadic pastoralists’ way of life? Why?
4. How did different kinds of food production affect community structures?
5. What networks were pastoralists, nomads, and foragers a part of? How did these networks affect the communities of people involved in trade?
6. What are some advantages that nomadic communities had over settled communities?

Evaluate

1. You may remember that the production and distribution frame narrative seems to suggest that people were foragers and later became farmers. How does this article, and the primary source, challenge that narrative?