week 12
Conrad and Demerest obviously have strong feeling about the way in which religion influenced the development and fall of the Aztec empire. They go to great lengths to dismantle material arguments about food and land in order to highlight what they see as the root of the collapse, religion. Stern focuses his first page to paint a picture in the readers mind of the landscape and climate. He talks about the way in which various elevations allow for only certain crops and how climate also changes drastically with those elevations further isolating the way in which these people can live. He mentions that the isolation of various families necessitated self sufficiency in regards to artisanship [4]. Only after he has established a scene does he move onto religion. he makes it clear that he sees the religion as having been influenced by the landscape and the need for communities to work together to create a lasting self sufficient nation.[9] so Stern may argue that Conrad and Demerest while making valid arguments about why the collapse happened, they may have ignored the material reasons why the religion developed in the way that they did, and what influenced the need for elevated levels of sacrifice.