Central Asian Identity

In “Shaping Islamic Identity”, Gunn illustrates a clash of civilizations does not lie primarily between Islam and an outside society but within its own confines. Principally within Central Asia decades of tight restrictions, in some parts destruction, of Islam has led those who identify as such with a disconnect between old teachings and new teachings reflective of the political climate of the regions. A conflict has arisen over the types of Islam that will characterize the Central Asian identity. Not only does there exist a difficulty in these nations to form an important aspect of their identity after decades of a state enforced ban on the continued practice of Islam, there also arises the difficulty of multi-faceted, dynamic ethnicities defining their Central Asian identities.

Edward Said’s criticism of the theory that a supposed clash of ‘civilizations’ would be the great dividing lines of the future stems from the fact that Samuel Huntington, in a post-cold war piece, ignorantly lumped together different cultures one-sidedly when in reality these cultures are dynamic, multi-layered societies composed of varying ideas. Over-simplifying entities such as the West and Islam, Huntington paints the picture that the blending of culture, through different methods of exposure and synergy, would not arise. Instead he protests that conflict would arise between cultures and that it was an ‘us versus them’ mentality, a theory that has been used by figures such as Silvio Berlusconi to justify ignorance and discrimination.

Ultimately, this week’s blog was about Central Asian identity and the issue of identity in general. One can either define oneself against their own qualities and actions or identify themselves by their relation to others. Like Hirschkind and Mahmood in, “Feminism, Taliban, and Politics of Counter-Insurgency” and Gunn illustrate, history plays one of the important roles in identification (both self-identification as well as outside identification) and impacts society. Most often the recent past is referred to for identification, however, decades or centuries of insurgency, interference and military conquest are often glossed over far too quickly. 

Dunhuang

Good Morning,
I hope the winter holidays treated all of you well and may 2011 be a positive year for all. This week's topic is Dunhuang and the materials found hidden away in these caves. These sketches, as illustrated by Sarah Fraser in Formulas of Creativity: Artist's Sketches and Techniques of Copying at Dunhuang are dated to the eleventh century and are described as prep work for finished paintings demonstrating the process in which artists carefully planned out finished works. These blueprints, and other materials used to aid artists in their process, are most curious on account of their condition. Carefully sealed away in caves these drafts were not viewed as art themselves, as is often the case in places like Europe, but were put together with their finished counterparts  by monastic administrators. Some theories of why the collection at Dunhuang exists include invasion by the Uighurs, the Xi Xia and Muslims; they used the caves in order to safeguard their sacred objects from these intruders. The five distinct kinds of drawings found at Dunhuang were reference sketches (used in wall painting for murals), sketches (used in religious application or ritual paintings), prep sketches for paintings on silk, practice sketches with repetition is some parts and detail in others, and there were also sketches made with the use of a pounce, a tool that help with the difficulties of painting ceilings.
How did these sketches influence our understanding of eleventh century China? The sketches and drafts found at Dunhuang allow us to better understand the culture surrounding that time period. The involvement of regional patronage as opposed to imperial gives clues to the structure of the regional government. The contents of these caves show the steps and stages of the great works within the caves acting as a blueprint of the final product. In these blueprints the true artist is seen, the ideas and themes of the story they were trying to portray comes out, these sketches provide a series of actions taken in order to produce their finished product.
Essentially these sketches are more than just blueprints of works of art, they are blueprints to Tantric artifacts used in prayer, in this way they unravel the mystery of the 'thousand Buddhas' but retain the marvel of Dunhuang much like the blueprints to an architectural wonder reinforces its achievement, beauty, and individuality.
I wonder if the process of the Bible were made public would it retain its intricate symbol or appear as the watered-down product of many sketches and drafts?

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.