Uses of the Past: Archaeology in the Service of the State

1987 ◽  
Vol 52 (2) ◽  
pp. 229-248 ◽  
Author(s):  
Don D. Fowler
Keyword(s):  
The State ◽  
People’S Republic Of China ◽  
People's Republic Of China ◽  
Republic Of China ◽  
The Past ◽  
Symbolic Resources ◽  
Nation States ◽  
Symbolic Resource ◽  
Power And Authority

Nation states, or partisans thereof, control and allocate symbolic resources as one means of legitimizing power and authority, and in pursuit of their perceived nationalistic goals and ideologies. A major symbolic resource is the past. In this paper I review three cases in which the past and, in particular, relevant archaeological resources were "used" for such purposes, and I refer to several other well-known instances. The three cases discussed are Mexico from ca. A.D. 900 to the present, Britain from ca. A.D. 1500 to the present, and the People’s Republic of China since 1949. The implications of such uses in relation to archaeological theories and interpretations are discussed.

Uses of the Past: Archaeology in the Service of the State (1987)

2008 ◽  
Author(s):  
Don D. Fowler
Keyword(s):  
Western Europe ◽  
New World ◽  
The State ◽  
Republic Of China ◽  
The Past ◽  
Symbolic Resources ◽  
Nation States ◽  
Brave New World ◽  
Symbolic Resource

Nation states, or partisans thereof, control and allocate symbolic resources as one means of legitimizing power and authority, and in pursuit of their perceived nationalistic goals and ideologies. A major symbolic resource is the past. In this chapter I review three cases in which the past and, in particular, relevant archaeological resources were ‘used’ for such purposes, and I refer to several other well-known instances. The three cases discussed are Mexico from c.AD 900 to the present, Britain from c.AD 1500 to the present, and the People’s Republic of China since 1949. The implications of such uses in relation to archaeological theories and interpretations are discussed. In The Uses of the Past, Herbert Müller (1952) sought for ‘certainty of meaning’ in an analysis of the development of Western civilization. The only certainty he found was that the past has many uses. This chapter is concerned with some specific uses of the past: (1) how nation state rulers and bureaucrats have manipulated the past for nationalist purposes, both ideological and chauvinistic, and to legitimize their authority and power; (2) how nation states have used archaeological sites, artefacts, and theories for such purposes; (3) how these uses of the past relate to more general questions about the intellectual and socio-political contexts in which archaeology is conducted. The importance to the state of using or manipulating its past is neatly delineated in two great dystopian novels, George Orwell’s (1949) Nineteen Eighty-Four, and Aldous Huxley’s (1932) Brave New World. In the former, the Ministry of Truth totally revamps the past as needed to justify and lend ‘truth’ to the immediate requirements, actions, and policies of the state. In the latter, the past is blotted out. As the Resident World Controller for Western Europe, Mustafa Mond tells the Savage, ‘we haven’t any use for old things here’ (Huxley 1932: 200). In both cases, control and manipulation of the past or its complete denial is critical to state ideology and purposes.

AS A DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY SUCH AS BIG DATA CAN BECOME A TOOL AGAINST SOCIETY

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vladislav Andreyevich Shcherbakov ◽  
◽  
Svetlana Aleksandrovna Chevereva ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Big Data ◽  
Digital Technology ◽  
State Level ◽  
The State ◽  
People’S Republic Of China ◽  
People's Republic Of China ◽  
Republic Of China ◽  
Total Control ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Big Data Technology

The definition of the term Big Date is given. Particular attention is paid to how, in practice, Big Data technology is being introduced into people's lives at the state level and how it can be used for total control using the example of the People’s Republic of China.

Cultural security of minorities under threat. The situation of the Uyghurs in the People’s Republic of China

2021 ◽  
Vol 202 (4) ◽  
pp. 719-733
Author(s):  
Elżbieta Szyszlak
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Heritage ◽  
The State ◽  
People’S Republic Of China ◽  
People's Republic Of China ◽  
Case Study Method ◽  
Republic Of China ◽  
National Minorities ◽  
Fundamental Significance

The main objective of the article is to analyse the state of cultural security of the Uyghur minority. Due to the fundamental significance of identity and culture for the functioning of national minorities, it belongs from their perspective to the most crucial sectors of security, especially since a whole range of threats concerns it. The text uses the case study method, and the situation of the Uyghur minority in the People’s Republic of China has been chosen as an example. The following parts of the study define the terms used in the article, characterize the Uyghur minority, and indicate the most critical threats to its cultural security. These include the processes of migration together with the accompanying processes of urbanization and industrialization, the destruction of cultural heritage, threats in the area of culture and education, and dangers related to the state’s policy towards Islam and the potential radicalization of its Uyghur followers.

scholarly journals The prosecutor’s office on the defense human and civil rights and freedoms in the Russian Federation and the People’s Republic of China

2021 ◽  
pp. 87-92
Author(s):  
T. I. Otcheskaya
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Civil Rights ◽  
Russian Federation ◽  
The State ◽  
People’S Republic Of China ◽  
Labor Rights ◽  
People's Republic Of China ◽  
Republic Of China ◽  
The Russian Federation ◽  
The Right

The article is devoted to topical issues of protection of human and civil rights and freedoms by an important state body — the prosecutor’s offi ce in two states — the Russian Federation and the People’s Republic of China. The author investigated the issue of the formation of prosecutorial supervision in the European space in the mechanism of statehood on the example of the Russian Federation and in the Asian space on the example of the People’s Republic of China.At the same time, the approaches of the two states to the protection of human rights at the constitutional level, which are regulated by the Constitution of the PRC and the Constitution of the Russian Federation, have been studied. The achievements of the Russian prosecutor’s offi ce in protecting human and civil rights and freedoms, which are the responsibility of the state, including on issues of observance of the labor rights of citizens, the right of citizens to protect life and health, are consecrated.The state program of action in the fi eld of human rights adopted by the State Council of the People’s Republic of China has also been studied in detail. Achievements in the social sphere are shown, which are provided not only by the state, but also by the prosecutor’s offi ce. The approaches of legal science in the two states are consecrated not only in the regulation of human and civil rights and freedoms, but also in their provision.Based on the material studied, the author concluded that it is possible to use the positive experience of Russia and China, mutually in both states, in order to ensure the protection of human and civil rights and freedoms in each of them.

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