Peasant and Empire in Christian North Africa

This remarkable history foregrounds the most marginal sector of the Roman population, the provincial peasantry, to paint a fascinating new picture of peasant society. Making use of detailed archaeological and textual evidence, Leslie Dossey examines the peasantry in relation to the upper classes in Christian North Africa, tracing that region's social and cultural history from the Punic times to the eve of the Islamic conquest. She demonstrates that during the period when Christianity was spreading to both city and countryside in North Africa, a convergence of economic interests narrowed the gap between the rustici and the urbani, creating a consumer revolution of sorts among the peasants. This book's postcolonial perspective points to the empowerment of the North African peasants and gives voice to lower social classes across the Roman world.

ISBN 0520254392   Pages 376 ISBN13 9780520254398 (What's this?)   Weight (grammes) 657 Publisher University of California Press   Published in Berkerley Imprint University of California Press   Series title Transformation of the Classical Heritage Format Hardback   Height (mm) 235 Publication date 13 Oct 2010   Width (mm) 159 DEWEY 305.56330939709015   Spine width (mm) 31 DEWEY edition DC22   Academic level Postgraduate

		List of Illustrations
		Acknowledgments
		Abbreviations
		Introduction		1
1		Historical Overview		11
		Part One. The Making Of The Peasant Consumer
2		Rural Consumption in Early Imperial North Africa		31
3		A Late Antique Consumer Revolution?		62
		Part Two. The Struggle For Community
4		Frustrated Communities: The Rise and Fall of the Self-Governing Village		101
5		Bishops Where No Bishops Should Be: The Phenomenon of the Rural Bishopric		125
		Part Three. Preaching And Rebellion
6		Preaching to Peasants		147
7		Reinterpreting Rebellion: Textual Communities and the Circumcellions		173
		Conclusion		195
		Appendix. The Identifiable Rural Bishoprics		205
		Notes		209
		Bibliography		293
		Index		333

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