Introduction: Archaeological approaches to cultural identity
20 May 2003-pp 29-60
TL;DR: In this article, the authors argue that the phenomenon of cultural difference raises profound problems for archaeology at all levels of both theory and practice, and outline some of these problem areas, and the individual chapters examine various aspects of them from a variety of different viewpoints.
Abstract: The essence of the argument in this book is that the phenomenon of cultural
difference raises profound problems for archaeology at all levels of both theory
and practice. This introduction outlines some of these problem areas, and the
individual chapters examine various aspects of them from a variety of different
viewpoints.
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TL;DR: The authors examines Slavic archaeology, a discipline crisscrossing national divisions of archaeological schools, within the broader context of the 'politics of culture' which characterizes all nation-states, as 'imagined communities' (Anderson 1991).
Abstract: Despite recent emphasis on the impact of nationalism on archaeology, the discussion has centered more on the ideological framework of the culture-historical school of archaeology, particularly on the concept of archaeological culture. Comparatively little attention has been paid to how archaeologists contributed to the construction of the national past. This article examines Slavic archaeology, a discipline crisscrossing national divisions of archaeological schools, within the broader context of the 'politics of culture' which characterizes all nation-states, as 'imagined communities' (Anderson 1991). Indeed, the current academic discourse about the early Slavs in Ukraine, Russia, and Romania appears as strikingly tied to political, rather than intellectual, considerations. In eastern Europe, the concept of archaeological culture is still defined in monothetic terms on the basis of the presence or absence of a list of traits or types derived from typical sites or intuitively considered to be repre...
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Cites background from "Introduction: Archaeological approa..."
...Despite so much recent emphasis on the impact of nationalism on archaeology, the discussion has centered upon either the `politics of archaeology' (Plumet 1984; Kohl and Fawcett 1995) or the ideological framework of culture history (Brachmann 1979; Shennan 1989; Hides 1996)....
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01 Jan 2012
TL;DR: In this paper, it is argued that the concept of cultural hybridity raises too many problems to be useful for a better understanding of interculturality, since, in spite of its promise to overcome outdated obsessions with purity and origins, the application of this concept bears the danger of these very aspects sneaking in through the back door.
Abstract: The field of prehistory and early history has an extraordinary potential for widening the scope of our understanding of the effects of interculturality, since it deals with the material remains of societies that were characterized by a true universe of differing systems of value and forms of social space. It is argued that the concept of cultural hybridity raises too many problems to be useful for a better understanding of interculturality, since, in spite of its promise to overcome outdated obsessions with purity and origins, the application of this concept bears the danger of these very aspects sneaking in through the back door. Moreover, if the concept of cultural hybridity is thought to be generally applicable, it is far too unspecific to be of any explanatory value. In dealing with the appearance of foreign traits, the focus of attention must be placed on clarifying the ways of appropriation on a local level and on how, in the course of their integration into existing practices, new cultural forms were created. Such an investigation of the appropriation of objects coming from the outside necessitates, however, radically questioning our presuppositions about the factors guiding pre-modern intercultural exchange. While this is quite clear in the case of the assumption of a general applicability of “rational” economic behaviour, it is much less obvious that our concept of the “world” cannot be assumed to apply universally. Based on differing social imaginaries, societies have conceived the shape of the surrounding world in very different ways, which in turn must have had an immediate bearing on the changing attitudes towards goods and ideas coming from the outside.
12 citations
TL;DR: The authors analyzed the sociopolitical significance of the decorated "Edomite pottery" in light of the re newed study of the material culture from Tel cAroer in the Negev and with an emphasis on recent anthropological approaches.
Abstract: Within the research of frontier areas, scholars have developed an approach that sees the frontier as a zone of interaction that plays host to complex relations with the external world. The tension between frontier dwellers and the external and internal worlds is reflected in the archaeological record of frontier zones, indicating not only the influence of the center and selective adoption of central motifs, but also preservation of unique regional characteristics. First identified by Nelson Glueck, decorated "Edomite Pottery" became a fossil di recteur at Edomite and Negev sites dated to the end of the Iron Age II. While the ty pology, chronology, and distribution of the "Edomite" vessels have been analyzed at length, hardly any discussion of the sociopolitical significance of this pottery has yet been undertaken. This article analyzes decorated "Edomite Pottery" in light of the re newed study of the material culture from Tel cAroer in the Negev and with an emphasis on recent anthropological approaches.
12 citations
Dissertation•
20 Dec 2011
11 citations