Entire Volume 17 issue 1 - Journal of World-Systems Research ...

EXTERNALITY AND INCORPORATION 194
regions of the world, particularly those on the borders of rival civilizations or cultures. Multiple
palimpsests exist, and reading the scriptio inferior is time-consuming and prone to differing
interpretations.
The notion of repeated incorporation transitions to a third, and related fourth, point worth
reiterating. Third, this case further solidifies the application of world-system analysis to precapitalist
settings, as has been argued by Abu-Lughod (1989, 1993), Chase Dunn and Hall (1991),
Frank (1990, 1998), Frank and Gills (2005), Gills and Frank (1991). Of particular interest, was
the systemic linkage and purposeful development of a “proto-global” currency by Axum. As
such, a careful reading of Abyssinian history echoes “modern” concerns with globalization and
argues that instead of being truly new or novel, the many problems subsumed under the rubric of
globalization have a considerable historical legacy (cf., Gills and Thompson 2006). In reference
to this lengthy historical legacy, I offer the notion of “protoglobalization” as a means of
differentiating the roots or precursor homologues of the “modern” phenomena. The rapidity of
change is new – yet the challenges themselves are not. Accordingly, the interaction between
systems is also useful for contemporary discussions about cultural globalization and civilizational
‘clashes’. The process – or interrelated processes – of globalization have been taking place for
thousands of years. Studying earlier cases of systemic incorporation, contest peripheries, and
changes along the various networks of systemic interaction can provide us with a better
understanding of how to negotiate these “modern” challenges.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This paper benefited from access and resources made available through the Helen Wallis
Fellowship of The Map Library at The British Library, and through graduate and travel support
provided by the Political Science Department at Arizona State University. The author also thanks
the anonymous reviewers at JWSR for their helpful comments. With regard to errors or
omissions, the usual statement applies.
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_____ . 1993. “Discontinuities and Persistence: One World System or a Succession of World
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Allen, Mitchell. 1992. "The Mechanisms of Underdevelopment: An Ancient Mesopotamian
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_____ . 1997. “Contested Peripheries: Philistia in the Neo-Assyrian World-System.” Unpublished
Ph.D. dissertation, Interdepartmental archaeology program, UCLA.
_____ . 2005. “Power is in the Details: Administrative Technology and the Growth of Ancient
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