IN THE BEGINNING WAS THE WORD: EXCAVATING THE RELATIONS BETWEEN HISTORY AND ARCHAEOLOGY IN SOUTH ASIA

2002 ◽  
Vol 45 (4) ◽  
pp. 492-523 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas Trautmann ◽  
Carla Sinopoli
Keyword(s):  
South Asia ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Colonial Period ◽  
Archaeological Survey ◽  
Ancient History ◽  
Post Colonial ◽  
Ancient India ◽  
Asiatic Society ◽  
In The Beginning ◽  
Material Evidence

AbstractThe study of the historic past, through material evidence and texts, was an integral component of colonial practice in India, and remains a highly visible governmental and public focus in contemporary South Asia. In this paper, we present an historic overview of the development of knowledge and research on ancient India, beginning with the formation of the Asiatic Society in 1784 and proceeding to the creation of the Archaeological Survey of India in 1861, when history and archaeology were formally differentiated. We trace this development through the post-colonial period, examining how archaeology and ancient history are practiced and conceptualized today. We conclude with four case studies that explore the existing state of, and the potential for, productive partnerships between historians and archaeologists. L'étude du passée historique, à travers l'evidence material et documentaire, faisait partie intégrante du pratique colonial a l'Inde, et reste encore un foyer du gouvernement et de la publique de la sud-Asie contemporaine. Dans cet essai, nous presentons un exposé historique du developpement de la connaissance et de la recherche sur l'Inde ancienne, a partir de la formation de la Asiatic Society in 1784, jusqu'a la creation du Archaeological Survey of India en 1861, du quel point on faisait la difference entre l'histoire et l'archeologie. Nous retraçons ce developpement au travers la periode post-coloniale, en examinant la pratique et la conception de l'archeologie et de l'histoire d'aujourdhui. Pour conclure, nous presentons quatre exemples qui considerent l'existence et le potentiel des associations fertiles entre les historiens et les archeologues.

A Demon with Ruby Eyes

2013 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 335-369
Author(s):  
Manan Ahmed Asif
Keyword(s):  
Built Environment ◽  
South Asia ◽  
Thirteenth Century ◽  
Colonial Period ◽  
Colonial State ◽  
Post Colonial ◽  
Religious Difference ◽  
The Past ◽  
Textual Production

This essay takes a longitudinal look at how different communities dealt with political and theological difference in the same space. It examines accounts of Uch Sharif, in contemporary Pakistan, from the thirteenth century to the present. It specifically traces a motif of ‘ruby eyes’ in Arabic and Persian historiography in an effort to delineate how difference was represented and assimilated. It argues that until the late colonial period, religious difference was mutually comprehensible, even if incommensurate. The rupture of meaning in recognising difference continued in different ways in the post-colonial state of Pakistan. The study provides a methodological argument for reshaping the ways in which we look at landscape, built environment and community, in contemporary South Asia. By situating the textual production of the past alongside the material remnants of the past, this essay reads simultaneously ethnographic and textual understandings of difference in Uch Sharif.

Secular Democracies, Governance and Politics of Religion in South Asia

2017 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 244-261
Author(s):  
Surya Prakash Upadhyay
Keyword(s):  
South Asia ◽  
South Asian ◽  
Religion And Politics ◽  
Colonial Period ◽  
Asian Countries ◽  
Post Colonial ◽  
Politics Of Religion ◽  
Colonial Histories ◽  
Role Of Religion

South Asian countries have a lot of commonalities exhibited through socio-political and economic situations. The cultural as well as political dynamics within the countries form more or less a similar pattern. These are closely related to colonial pasts, post-colonial histories, polyethnic population, political leadership and governance. These commonalities are also related to political instability, ethnic violence and a greater role of religion in the formation of secular democracies. Scholars have observed that in the post-colonial period, religion has played an important role in political formations in South Asian countries. This article looks at political situations, since the early 1950s, and traces the trajectory of religions’ association in formation of secular democracies in these countries. The article looks at available literature on South Asia and discusses two key ideas: how and why religion and politics are intertwined in South Asian countries, and ramifications of such association in the expansion of secular democracy. The article argues that religion has always been a potent force in South Asian countries and secularisation, in the Western sense, has never been achieved. Therefore, formations of secular democracy take different trajectories in South Asia.

scholarly journals Stammereligioner: konversion til kristendom og hinduisme i Indien. Illustreret med eksempler fra santal- og bodostammerne i kolonitiden i Indien

2015 ◽  
pp. 20
Author(s):  
Peter Birkelund Andersen
Keyword(s):  
Case Studies ◽  
Central India ◽  
Colonial Period ◽  
Religious Groups ◽  
Christian Missions ◽  
Post Colonial ◽  
Religious Traditions ◽  
Colonial Studies

Based on case studies of conversion among the Santals and Bodos in Central India and Assam from 1867 to the 1930s it is argued that the European Christian missionaries to the tribal peoples overstated the importance of baptism and did not fully understand the rationality which the converts addressed their situation through. During the colonial period the converts to Christianity were far more open to mobility between different religious groups and far more elective between local and Christian religious traditions. These facts query the post-colonial resentment of the acts of the Protestant Christian missions during the colonial period as well as the larger approach to the colonial period in the school of ‘post-colonial studies’. In both cases due to the fact that the Indians living during the colonial period are denied the rationality they acted within. A note has been added post-release in the end of the article on the request of the author.

The Story of Storyboards from East Sepik, Papua New Guinea

2019 ◽  
Vol 40 (1) ◽  
pp. 59-74
Author(s):  
Martin Soukup ◽  
Dušan Lužný
Keyword(s):  
Material Culture ◽  
Daily Life ◽  
Field Research ◽  
New Guinea ◽  
Colonial Period ◽  
Cultural Continuity ◽  
Cultural Changes ◽  
Post Colonial ◽  
Global Tourism ◽  
The Village

This study analyzes and interprets East Sepik storyboards, which the authors regard as a form of cultural continuity and instrument of cultural memory in the post-colonial period. The study draws on field research conducted by the authors in the village of Kambot in East Sepik. The authors divide the storyboards into two groups based on content. The first includes storyboards describing daily life in the community, while the other links the daily life to pre-Christian religious beliefs and views. The aim of the study is to analyze one of the forms of contemporary material culture in East Sepik in the context of cultural changes triggered by Christianization, colonial administration in the former Territory of New Guinea and global tourism.

The Role of Music and Allied Arts in Public Writings on Cultural Diversity: “People of Sri Lanka”

2020 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
pp. 93-100
Author(s):  
Gisa Jähnichen
Keyword(s):  
Sri Lanka ◽  
Cultural Diversity ◽  
South Asia ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Sri Lankan ◽  
Culturally Different ◽  
The World ◽  
Official Languages ◽  
The Way

The Sri Lankan Ministry of National Coexistence, Dialogue, and Official Languages published the work “People of Sri Lanka” in 2017. In this comprehensive publication, 21 invited Sri Lankan scholars introduced 19 different people’s groups to public readers in English, mainly targeted at a growing number of foreign visitors in need of understanding the cultural diversity Sri Lanka has to offer. This paper will observe the presentation of these different groups of people, the role music and allied arts play in this context. Considering the non-scholarly design of the publication, a discussion of the role of music and allied arts has to be supplemented through additional analyses based on sources mentioned by the 21 participating scholars and their fragmented application of available knowledge. In result, this paper might help improve the way facts about groups of people, the way of grouping people, and the way of presenting these groupings are displayed to the world beyond South Asia. This fieldwork and literature guided investigation should also lead to suggestions for ethical principles in teaching and presenting of culturally different music practices within Sri Lanka, thus adding an example for other case studies.

Conflicts in Biafra, Katanga and Cabinda as a result of the geopolitical legacy of colonialism

2020 ◽  
Vol 2020 (10-3) ◽  
pp. 238-246
Author(s):  
Olga Dzhenchakova
Keyword(s):  
Democratic Republic ◽  
Economic Factor ◽  
Colonial Period ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Negative Consequences ◽  
Post Colonial ◽  
Republic Of The Congo ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
The Republic ◽  
The Impact

The article considers the impact of the colonial past of some countries in sub-Saharan Africa and its effect on their development during the post-colonial period. The negative consequences of the geopolitical legacy of colonialism are shown on the example of three countries: Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Republic of Angola, expressed in the emergence of conflicts in these countries based on ethno-cultural, religious and socio-economic contradictions. At the same time, the focus is made on the economic factor and the consequences of the consumer policy of the former metropolises pursuing their mercantile interests were mixed.

Jumbos and Jumping Devils

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nisha P R
Keyword(s):  
Popular Culture ◽  
Cultural Studies ◽  
South Asia ◽  
Social History ◽  
Post Colonial ◽  
The Social ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
History Of

Jumbos and Jumping Devils is an original and pioneering exploration of not only the social history of the subcontinent but also of performance and popular culture. The domain of analysis is entirely novel and opens up a bolder approach of laying a new field of historical enquiry of South Asia. Trawling through an extraordinary set of sources such as colonial and post-colonial records, newspaper reports, unpublished autobiographies, private papers, photographs, and oral interviews, the author brings out a fascinating account of the transnational landscape of physical cultures, human and animal performers, and the circus industry. This book should be of interest to a wide range of readers from history, sociology, anthropology, and cultural studies to analysts of history of performance and sports in the subcontinent.

scholarly journals Failure to Meet up to Expectation: Examining Women’s Activist Groups in the Post-Colonial Period in Nigeria

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 23-35
Author(s):  
Adebukola Dagunduro ◽  
Adebimpe Adenugba
Keyword(s):  
Colonial Period ◽  
Women's Activism ◽  
Women's Groups ◽  
Colonial Era ◽  
Nigerian Women ◽  
Post Colonial ◽  
Liberal Feminism ◽  
Political Landscape ◽  
Women’S Groups ◽  
Activist Groups

AbstractWomen’s activism within various ethnic groups in Nigeria dates back to the pre-colonial era, with notable heroic leaders, like Moremi of Ife, Amina of Zaria, Emotan of Benin, Funmilayo Kuti, Margaret Ekpo and many others. The participation of Nigerian women in the Beijing Conference of 1995 led to a stronger voice for women in the political landscape. Several women’s rights groups have sprung up in the country over the years. Notable among them are the Federation of Nigerian Women’s Societies (FNWS), Women in Nigeria (WIN), Kudirat Initiative for Democracy (KIND) and Female in Nigeria (FIN). However, majority have failed to actualize significant political, social or economic growth. This paper examines the challenges and factors leading to their inability to live up to people’s expectations. Guided by patriarchy and liberal feminism theories, this paper utilizes both historical and descriptive methods to examine these factors. The paper argues that a lack of solidarity among women’s groups, financial constraints, unfavourable political and social practices led to the inability of women’s groups in Nigeria to live up to the envisaged expectations. The paper concludes that, for women’s activist groups to survive in Nigeria, a quiet but significant social revolution is necessary among women. Government should also formulate and implement policies that will empower women politically, economically and socially.

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