The Kushans and early Buddhism

As I do the readings for this week I am more intrigued by the idea of two opposing concepts in one empire. There were two different styles of sculpture in the Kusana empire: one that encompassed an indigenous Indian style and the other an eclectic style with heavy Greco-Roman inspiration. The first style came from Mathura and the second from Gandhara. These aforementioned opposing concepts that appear to me within these two opposing styles of art are the concepts of old versus new. To find this concept within the art of a society leads me to believe that it most likely is present within many different facets of a society such as government structure, religion and language. Although this idea is not uncommon I feel as if it is a phenomena; the ability for a culture to be two things at once: maintaining the old style while fostering a new innovative one, illustrates the ethos of all peoples. It is people who are able to use what has been given them while finding new ways to make them better within and without their society. This also could be illustrated through the older generation with the new who does not feel the constraints of tradition and most often tries to make it their own, to make it better. Overall, although it is regular in many societies, I find the ability to have two different opposing styles and concepts flourish in one empire interesting, encompassing the human ethos of change.
'Til next time!

The Han dynasty and the northern “barbarians”

Myths were used to explain or construct the ethnic origins of Chinese and surrounding peoples, dating back to the Han dynasty and continuing to today. Before written records to prove genealogy Chinese historians constructed ethnic origins for political purposes with mainly two different approaches. The first approach was to manipulate perceptions of foreign peoples by attributing their ancestry to the supernatural such as the myths of the origins of the Xiongnu and Tujue, which said that they had descended from a wolf. Although this seems to give the two foreign peoples a sense of strength and ferocity to the Chinese the wolf was a mark of contempt and harshness. This approach made foreign peoples seem different and exotic from the Chinese justifying their treatment of them as inferior for conquest, exploitation and expansion. The second approach was to enhance the ethnicity of outsiders by asserting that their ancestry was strong and Chinese to inherit the positive attributes of foreigners as there own. Although these myths were political, as illustrated above, they were also psychological allowing Chinese governments as well as historians devalue the autonomy and identity of foreigners by demonizing them or by means of assimilation.

Now you may reflect on why the word ‘barbarians’ are in quotations in the title of this entry. The word is sometimes defined as uncultured or brutish people. How much of the word is perception from people with political gains?

‘Til next time!

Defining Ancient Cultures

This week's post is about, as my title illustrates, defining ancient cultures. Reading selections from David Crystal's Cambridge Encyclopedia of Languages and Levinson's Encyclopedia of Cultural Anthropology it has become apparent to me how important a language is to a culture. Of course some may say this is quite obvious, one's language is strongly intertwined with their identity. This is so because I believe language has two main uses to its speakers, the first being obvious: to be able to communicate, the second is to be able to tell the difference between people. This difference serves as protection so people not only know someone is not from where they are from but further (if they decipher) where they are from. This study of different languages also serves as a key to a window in time, it allows for those studying a culture to understand different aspects of the lives of those who spoke it. How their religious tradition bled into their culture from their designated places of worship and why. How they interacted with neighboring peoples, do they share many of the same words, if so, why, if not, why. Using language we are able to better distinguish between cultural traditions that otherwise seem quite similar and relate between cultural traditions we previously thought had little connection to one another. And of course, the most important of all, language can be used to map an area of land, both geographically (where one culture ended and another began) and create a time line that allows those who study it to understand how practices and beliefs were spread from one place to another.