DOCSLIB.ORG

Nomadism, Barbarism and Civilization. Eighteenth Century Interpretations of Central Asian History

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Nomadism, Barbarism and Civilization. Eighteenth Century Interpretations of Central Asian History 1 Nomadism, barbarism and civilization. Eighteenth century interpretations of Central Asian history Rolando Minuti University of Florence Dipartimento di Storia, Archelogia, Geografia, Arte e Spettacolo (SAGAS) XXIInd CISH Congress, in Jinan Jinan, China 23 to 29 August 2015 Thursday 27 August Morning session RT 12 Crossroad States: between East and West As clearly said by prof. Garcia Moreno in his excellent paper, the history of Central Asia during the pre‐Islamic period was a large theatre of events, conflicts, complex cultural processes and interactions among different peoples, which had a paramount importance and still raise many problematic issues for historical inquiry. Notwithstanding the growth of archeological investigation and its new and increasing results, particularly since the beginning of the last century, this great and important section of world history remains obscure in many chapters. The origins of the Hsiung‐nu, for instance is still “a problematic issue”, as we read in Garcia Moreno’s paper; the ethnic origins of the Yue Chih, is “still a true puzzle in modern historiography”; the knowledge of the history of the Chionites or of the great Kushan Empire is still “not proportional to its real importance”, and so on. The need of throwing light on this complicated, fascinating and important section of world history was already felt by Western scholarship during the period that foreruns the beginnings of archaeological inquiry, which can be placed between the end of the XVIIIth and the early XIXth century. During the long ‘Enlightenment Age’ in Europe, the topic of Central Asian history attracted a special attention in the general framework of the development of Western historiography and the transformations of a key concept in history of European culture as that of ‘civilization’. In my comment, so, I wish to draw your attention on some aspects concerning this historiographical topic, which has been defined by a remarkable scholar of Enlightenment historiography, John Pocock, the “discovery of Central Asia” and which can maybe open the possibility of some reflections concerning contemporary approach to world history and its intellectual roots. 2 It was mainly a great ‘orientalist’ scholar of the middle of the XVIIIth century, Joseph de Guignes, an eminent member of the French Académie des Inscriptions et Belles Lettres, who tried to fill the serious gap of Western knowledge concerning the history of Central Asia and to write a general history of its peoples and events, that is the Histoire générale des Huns, des Turcs, des Mogols, et des autres Tartares occidentaux, etc. avant et depuis Jesus‐Christ jusqu’à present, published in Paris in five large volumes between 1756 and 1758,. That history was particularly important, De Guignes wrote, because it connected the East and the West, and could explain the reason of revolutions, social and political transformations, economic changes, cultural and religious interactions, which affected the East and the West as well and which only a detailed knowledge of this part of world history made possible. We could rightly observe that the interest for the events of Central Asia was not lacking in the previous period of European culture. European scholarship, mainly during the XVIIth century and the beginning of the XVIIIth, already tried to investigate some periods of the history of peoples and empires of Central Asia, mainly using Arabic sources, and to produce historical narratives about that. Beyond the terrible image of the Gengiskhanid Mongols, which in Medieval times was connected to the eschatological issues of Christian culture – the reason why the name of the Tatar peoples becomes Tartar, which recalled the idea of Hell ‐ what grew in Western, mainly French, historiography of the XVIIth century was rather the astonishment for the greatness – ‘la grandeur’ in French writings – of great empires like those of GengisKhan and Timur. An astonishment and sometimes an admiration – in works like those of Sainctyon, Pierre Vattier, François Petis de la Croix, François Catrou – which also made possible the comparison with the image of the ‘grandeur’ of the reign of Louis XIV in France. What was new in De Guignes’s enterprise was the unification of the various moments of the history of Central Asia in ancient and modern times and the accomplishment of a great historical narrative connecting the East and the West. The great scenario of Central Asia was so the theatre of a unitary history, made possible by the reenactment of its complicate chains of events but also by the idea of the dynamics produced by the confrontation between nomadic and sedentary peoples on the East and the West side. Writing a history like that, in which Central Asia became a major and unitary historical subject, was the core of De Guignes’s enterprise, but it was a very hard task, as De Guignes clearly perceived, because the sources were not particularly rich nor, when accessible, easy to approach. The knowledge of Asiatic languages and mainly the use of Chinese documents were indispensable for 3 accomplishing it. This was the fundamental documentary basis for De Guignes, who was a distinguished sinologist of his time, and the comparison of Chinese with other literary sources – obviously Greek and Latin, but also Arabic and Persian – gave to his work a particularly high value. A value that was highly appreciated by eminent historians of his time as in particular by Edward Gibbon in his celebrated Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (1776‐ 89). De Guignes, as we said, was an eminent erudite and not a ‘philosophic historian’ – to use a typical XVIIIth century term – as was Voltaire, for instance, or Gibbon as well, whose major importance for Western historiography of the Enlightenment period was, as largely known, the connection between erudition and a great narrative and philosophical approach. De Guignes mind is firmly settled inside the erudite framework of his time and in a traditional theoretical framework for which the Biblical scheme of diffusion of peoples in the world remains an absolute point of reference. This scheme supported his attempts to track down the origins and movements of nations and to confirm the thesis of the unity of human family, which led him to hazard some hypothesis as that of the Chinese nation as the outcome of an original Egyptian colony. Inside the complicate erudite approach of his attempt to reconstruct the Central Asian history, elements which are typical of the philosophic Enlightenment approach appear anyway in a significant way; for instance, his attention for the structures of material life and the different manners of the nomad and breeder nations and the sedentary and agricultural ones. These elements, which emerge in De Guignes work inside the detailed expositions of events, genealogies and chronologies, are in fact a central point in the philosophical approach to world history, which Enlightenment scholars and historians advanced; an approach for which, to summarize, the discussion about the meanings of barbarism and civilization was a major issue. So, parallel and someway connected to the philological and erudite inquiry about non‐European historical documents and sources, which opened the way to a new consideration of Central Asian history, we have to consider another face of the Eighteenth century historical approach. That is a philosophical approach (a ‘conjectural’ approach, following a term diffused in the British and mainly Scottish XVIIIth Century context), which looked for social and historical causes which produce their effect, in various times and contexts, in all human societies and which could give a uniform image of the dynamics of universal history. These two sides, the erudite and the philosophical, which can be theoretically distinguished although not too rigidly separated, express 4 together the core of the European interest for non‐European histories in XVIII century, and mainly the new place of Central Asia in European historiography. This new approach involved, as a major consequence, a new kind of reflection on the meaning of an ancient concept, that of ‘barbarism’, and a significant shift about that. This shift is clearly detectable in one of the seminal work of the Enlightenment culture, which is the Spirit of Laws of Montesquieu. Indeed, it was Montesquieu who placed the meaning of ‘barbarism’ on a level which was not mainly that of moral and religious values, nor particularly connected to violence, cruelty and so on, but which had a specific social and economic meaning. It was the way of getting subsistance that identified the ‘barbarian’ character of some peoples, and barbarism so was strictly connected to cattle breeding and nomadism. The distinction of savages – hunters and gatherers – and barbarians – breeders and nomads – was an essential part of Montesquieu’s ‘sociological’ inquiry, as well known. Barbarism was, at the same time, a stage in the history of human society, in different places and times. Montesquieu didn’t follow an historical approach in his work and remained on the theoretical level of a structural analysis observing the connections between economy, manners, laws and so on. Other authors did, as Gibbon or various Scottish philosophes and historians of the second half of the XVIIIth century, offering a philosophical key to the historical narrative, which directly involved Central Asian history. In chapter 26 of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, and in his depiction of the ‘manners of pastoral societies’, Gibbon offers a concise but deep reflection on the social organization of Central Asian peoples. In these pages the refusal of sedentary life and the “restless spirit” of the peoples which inhabited “the immense plains of Scythia or Tartary” was the engine who moved the chain of events which unified the East and the West of the Eurasian continent: “The thrones of Asia have been repeatedly overturned by the shepherds of the North, and their arms have spread terror and devastation over the most fertile and warlike countries of Europe”.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • The Magazine of the Grand Canyon Historical Society
    The Ol’ Pioneer The Magazine of the Grand Canyon Historical Society Volume 24 : Number 4 www.GrandCanyonHistory.org Fall 2013 President’s Letter The Ol’ Pioneer The Magazine of the What exactly is “history”? Is it merely the recitation of facts, or a dry, Grand Canyon Historical Society recollection of dates and past events? Does it involve only the recording (or Volume 24 : Number 4 recovery) of information about things that happened a long time ago? Is history Fall 2013 even important in such a modern, well-connected world? I think about these things every time I mention to someone that I am a member of the Grand u Canyon Historical Society. Now and then, someone will look at me sideways as The Historical Society was established if maybe I am “off my rocker” and not yet “old enough” to concern myself with in July 1984 as a non-profit corporation such things. to develop and promote appreciation, I recall my own misconceptions about history when I remember applying understanding and education of the for membership in The Mayflower Society, a group of Mayflower descendants earlier history of the inhabitants and important events of the Grand Canyon. dedicated to cultivating an appreciation and understanding of that seminal event in American history. My reaction upon meeting my fellow members in The Ol’ Pioneer is published by the the Arizona Chapter was shock at their extreme age – I wondered if I might GRAND CANYON HISTORICAL be “too young” to be a member of the group. I soon stopped paying dues, not SOCIETY in conjunction with The wanting to associate myself with such “old folks.” Bulletin, an informational newsletter.
    [Show full text]
  • European Journal of Turkish Studies, 24 | 2017 Sinological Origins of Turcology in 18Th-Century Europe 2
    European Journal of Turkish Studies Social Sciences on Contemporary Turkey 24 | 2017 Transturcologiques. Une histoire transnationale des études turques Sinological Origins of Turcology in 18th-century Europe Despina Magkanari Electronic version URL: http://journals.openedition.org/ejts/5441 DOI: 10.4000/ejts.5441 ISSN: 1773-0546 Publisher EJTS Electronic reference Despina Magkanari, « Sinological Origins of Turcology in 18th-century Europe », European Journal of Turkish Studies [Online], 24 | 2017, Online since 08 November 2017, connection on 16 February 2020. URL : http://journals.openedition.org/ejts/5441 ; DOI : 10.4000/ejts.5441 This text was automatically generated on 16 February 2020. © Some rights reserved / Creative Commons license Sinological Origins of Turcology in 18th-century Europe 1 Sinological Origins of Turcology in 18th-century Europe Despina Magkanari 1 The title of this article may seem paradoxical and therefore calls for some initial remarks*. Firstly, when it comes to the study of knowledge production in the early modern era, we need to discard current disciplinary categories so as to avoid introducing anachronistic projections into a period preceding the rise of specialization and professionalization in scientific research. Indeed, although Enlightenment Orientalists were scholars anticipating a career – mostly in royal institutions – they were mastering as best they could different languages, engaging in multiform activity and diversified production, and holding posts not necessarily connected to their favored area
    [Show full text]
  • Klint De Roodenbeke, Auguste (1816-1878) : Belgischer Diplomat Biographie 1868 Auguste T’Klint De Roodenbeke Ist Belgischer Gesandter in China
    Report Title - p. 1 of 509 Report Title t''Klint de Roodenbeke, Auguste (1816-1878) : Belgischer Diplomat Biographie 1868 Auguste t’Klint de Roodenbeke ist belgischer Gesandter in China. [KuW1] Tabaglio, Giuseppe Maria (geb. Piacenza-gest. 1714) : Dominikaner, Professor für Theologie, Università Sapienza di Roma Bibliographie : Autor 1701 Tabaglio, Giuseppe Maria ; Benedetti, Giovanni Battista. Il Disinganno contraposto da un religioso dell' Ordine de' Predicatori alla Difesa de' missionarj cinesi della Compagnia di Giesù, et ad un' altro libricciuolo giesuitico, intitulato l' Esame dell' Autorità &c. : parte seconda, conchiusione dell' opera e discoprimento degl' inganni principali. (Colonia : per il Berges, 1701). https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_ZX__WZVH6zsC. [WC] 1709 Tabaglio, Giuseppe Maria ; Fatinelli, Giovanni Jacopo. Considerazioni sù la scrittura intitolata Riflessioni sopra la causa della Cina dopò ! venuto in Europa il decreto dell'Emo di Tournon. (Roma : [s.n.], 1709). https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_YWkGIznVv70C. [WC] Tabone, Vincent (Victoria, Gozo 1913-2012 San Giljan, Malta) : Politiker, Staatspräsident von Malta Biographie 1991 Vincent Tabone besucht China. [ChiMal3] Tacchi Venturi, Pietro (San Severino Marche 1861-1956 Rom) : Jesuit, Historiker Bibliographie : Autor 1911-1913 Ricci, Matteo ; Tacchi Venturi, Pietro. Opere storiche. Ed. a cura del Comitato per le onoranze nazionali con prolegomeni, note e tav. dal P. Pietro Tacchi-Venturi. (Macerata : F. Giorgetti, 1911-1913). [KVK] Tacconi, Noè (1873-1942) : Italienischer Bischof von Kaifeng Bibliographie : erwähnt in 1999 Crotti, Amelio. Noè Tacconi (1873-1942) : il primo vescovo di Kaifeng (Cina). (Bologna : Ed. Missionaria Italiana, 1999). [WC] Tachard, Guy (Marthon, Charente 1648-1712 Chandernagor, Indien) : Jesuitenmissionar, Mathematiker Biographie Report Title - p. 2 of 509 1685 Ludwig XIV.
    [Show full text]
  • The First Global Turn: Chinese Contributions to Enlightenment World History
    The First Global Turn: Chinese Contributions to Enlightenment World History Alexander Statman Journal of World History, Volume 30, Number 3, September 2019, pp. 363-392 (Article) Published by University of Hawai'i Press For additional information about this article https://muse.jhu.edu/article/734752 Access provided at 1 Oct 2019 16:06 GMT from University of Wisconsin @ Madison The First Global Turn: Chinese Contributions to Enlightenment World History ALEXANDER STATMAN The Huntington Library THE FIRST GLOBAL TURN In the middle of the eighteenth century, Enlightenment historiography underwent what might be called the first global turn. European historians devised a new program for world history, drawing diverse local histories together to treat the world as an interconnected whole. Enlightenment world history took many forms, as Jennifer Pitts has shown. Conjectural history, developed in Scotland, formulated universal models of historical development through stages of civilization. Commercial histories, pioneered in France, uncovered the economic links that drew different partsoftheworldtogether.Bothwereattemptstowritehistorieswithvery broad coverage in time and space. Edward Gibbon’s History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, published beginning in 1776, took for its subject the entirety of Europe and much of West Asia over a period of morethana millennium.Voltaire’sEssaisurlesmœursetl’espritdesnations, first published in 1756, was yet more expansive, starting with the beginning of recorded civilization and extending almost to his own day. Both developed approaches that were world-historical in the sense that they were supposed to be applicable always and everywhere. And both realized, too, that in order to be so, they would have to engage with the scholarly traditions of the world beyond Europe.1 1 Jennifer Pitts, “The Global in Enlightenment Historical Thought,” in A Companion to Global Historical Thought, ed.
    [Show full text]
  • George Thomas Staunton (1781‑1859) and the European Discourses on China in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries
    Guido Abbattista Chinese Law and Justice: George Thomas Staunton (1781-1859) and the European Discourses on China in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries Preface – Introduction – I. Eighteenth-Century Discourses on Chinese Law and Justice – I.1. European Views on China in the Early Modern Period – I.2. Du Halde on Chinese Justice – I.3. Views on Chinese Law and Justice after Du Halde: Admirers and Detractors – I.4. British Views on Chinese Institutions from William Temple to Adam Smith – I.5. Contributions and Opinions in the Last Thirty Years of the Eighteenth Century – II. An End-of-the-Century Turning Point – II.1. Diplomatic Evidence: Lord Macartney, George Leonard Staunton, John Barrow – II.2. French Perspectives from the Early Nineteenth Century – II.3. Chrétien-Louis-Joseph de Guignes – II.4. Popular Images of Chinese Penal Justice – III. George Thomas Staunton and the Qing Code – IV. English Reactions to the Qing Code – V. The Qing Code in Europe and the Italian and French Editions Preface I had two objectives in writing this essay. The first and most specific is to introduce the digital reprint of the Italian translation of the Ta Tsing Leu Lee (Da Qing lü li in modern transliteration), the so-called Qing ‘penal code’ (Milan, Silvestri, 1812, 3 vol- umes in-8°): something I deal with also in the General Introduction. My second objec- tive is to present the work that was translated into Italian in 1812, the Ta Tsing Leu Lee published in London in 1810, and its author George ThomasStaunton by reconstruct- ing the relevant aspects of the latter’s biography, his role in the culture and politics of early nineteenth-century Britain, his reasons for translating the Qing code into English and the set of motivations guiding the work.
    [Show full text]
  • The Melammu Project
    THE MELAMMU PROJECT http://www.aakkl.helsinki.fi/melammu/ “Expansion of Oriental Studies in the Early 19th Century” KLAUS KARTTUNEN Published in Melammu Symposia 4: A. Panaino and A. Piras (eds.), Schools of Oriental Studies and the Development of Modern Historiography. Proceedings of the Fourth Annual Symposium of the Assyrian and Babylonian Intellectual Heritage Project. Held in Ravenna, Italy, October 13-17, 2001 (Milan: Università di Bologna & IsIao 2004), pp. 161-7. Publisher: http://www.mimesisedizioni.it/ This article was downloaded from the website of the Melammu Project: http://www.aakkl.helsinki.fi/melammu/ The Melammu Project investigates the continuity, transformation and diffusion of Mesopotamian culture throughout the ancient world. A central objective of the project is to create an electronic database collecting the relevant textual, art-historical, archaeological, ethnographic and linguistic evidence, which is available on the website, alongside bibliographies of relevant themes. In addition, the project organizes symposia focusing on different aspects of cultural continuity and evolution in the ancient world. The Digital Library available at the website of the Melammu Project contains articles from the Melammu Symposia volumes, as well as related essays. All downloads at this website are freely available for personal, non-commercial use. Commercial use is strictly prohibited. For inquiries, please contact [email protected]. KARTTUNEN E XPANSION OF ORIENTAL STUDIES IN THE EARLY 19 TH CENTURY KLAUS KARTTUNEN Helsinki
    [Show full text]
  • The Three Oldest Books About China Found at the National Bibliotheca In
    Article 2020 Dedicated to the Malta China Cultural Centre The three oldest books about China found at the National Bibliotheca in Valletta, Malta. written by Martin Azzopardi sdc B.A. (Hons) Theol. & Human Studies, P.G.C.E., M.A. (Melit.) On Wednesday the 2nd of September 2020 I researched Chinese texts and books about China at the National Bibliotheca in Valletta. I found that the three oldest books we have in our national collection date back to the 18th century. The National Library of Malta, often known simply as the Bibliotheca, is a reference library in Republic Square, Valletta. It was founded by Grand Master Emmanuel de Rohan-Polduc in 1776 from the collections of the Knight Louis Guérin de Tencin. The Bibliotheca has been a legal deposit library since 1925 and it, together with collections in the University of Malta, forms the largest collection of Melitensia on the island. The library also contains the archives of the Order of St. John, the Università of Mdina and the Università of Valletta. The collection is housed in a late 18th century neoclassical building in the city centre, close to the Grandmaster’s Palace, designed by Polish-Italian architects Stefano Ittar and his son Sebastiano Ittar. The three oldest books about China I found at the National Bibliotheca are not so rare, but still very prestigious for our national collection. The oldest book dates back to the year 1723 and carries the title: ‘Histoire de la Conqueste de la Chine par les Tartares: Contenant plusieurs choses remarquables, touchant la religion, les moeurs, & les coûtumes de ces deux nations.
    [Show full text]
  • A Catalogue of the Library of the North China
    This is a reproduction of a library book that was digitized by Google as part of an ongoing effort to preserve the information in books and make it universally accessible. http://books.google.com ,► A CATALOGUE OF THE LIBRARY OF THE NORTH CHINA BRANCH OF THE EOYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY (INCLUDING THE LIBRARY OF ALEX. WYLIE, ESQ.) Systematically classed. BI HENRI CORDIER, HON. LIBRARIAN. SHANGHAI: PRINTED AT THE " CIIINO-FOOXO " GENERAL PntHTDCO OFFICE. CONTENTS. Page. PREFACE — DIVISIONS OF CATALOGUE ra-vm CATALOGUE 1-69 INDEX 71-79 APPENDIX— I Maps and Charts 81-88 II Chinese Works 84-85 ADDENDA 8C ERRATA ibid PREFACE. ♦ Owing to the want of a complete Catalogue, the Library of the North-China Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society has been hitherto practically inaccessible to the Public. The few students and savants — who were obliged to have recourse to it for their researches — had only for guides the somewhat meagre list of Books and Charts printed in the Council's Report for the year 1865, the manuscript list of the books forming the collection of Mr. Wylie and the memory of the Librarian. This Catalogue will show the poverty of the Library and probably induce public-spirited men to add to its value by presenting works which they may have thought of no interest or already in the collection. Libraries begin to make real progress only when their contents are well known and their object well determined. Mr. Wy lie's Library1 served as the nucleus of a good series of works on China ; and its 718 volumes or pamphlets, added to those already in the possession of the Asiatic Society, formed a collection of standard works on the East numbering about 1,300 volumes2 However valuable this collection may be, its deficiency is very great ; and many a volume which an Orientalist ought to find is sought in vain through the pages of the Catalogue.
    [Show full text]
  • Evolution of the Representation of Buddhism in the French Translations of the Sutra of Forty-Two Chapters
    Where is God? Evolution of the Representation of Buddhism in the French Translations of The Sutra of Forty-two Chapters HOU XIAOMING EPHE, PSL, CRCAO [email protected] Keywords: Buddhism in Europe, French, Translations, The Sutra of Forty-two Chapters DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.15239/hijbs.01.01.03 Abstract: The Sutra of Forty-two Chapters (Sishi’er zhang jing ) is traditionally considered to be the first Buddhist sūtra translated四十二章 into Chinese.經 Interestingly, after more than a millennium, its French trans- lation also became the first integral translation of a Buddhist sūtra pub- lished in western language. However, despite its importance, its French translations have never been studied systematically. The present study is a historical and textual research of its four consecutive French translations from the eighteenth to the nineteenth century, respectively translated by Joseph de Guignes (1721–1800), Joseph Gabet (1808–1853) and Éva- riste Huc (1813–1860), Léon Feer (1830–1902), and Charles de Harlez (1832–1899). Through an analysis of vocabulary, style and interpretation of the translations, it shows that the image of Buddhism represented in these translations has changed from a monotheism, to a pantheism, a nihilism and a panpsychism. The evolution of its representations, as the result of a search for ‘God’ when defining a religion, is analyzed from the historical point of view which reengages the translations in the cultural controversies during the period when the discovery of the Orient was used to both challenge and defend the European conscience. 76 Hualin International Journal of Buddhist Studies, 1.1 (2018): 76–117 FRENCH TRANSLATIONS OF THE SUTRA OF FORTY-TWO CHAPTERS 77 The First Sūtra n the history of encounter between Buddhism and Europe, the Ispecial significance of The Sutra of Forty-two Chapters has mostly been overlooked.
    [Show full text]
  • 7. a Global Phonographic Revolution Trans-Eurasian Resonances of Writing in Early Modern France and China Zhuqing (Lester) S
    Acoustemologies in Contact W Sounding Subjects and Modes of Listening in Early Modernity ILBOURNE EDITED BY EMILY WILBOURNE AND SUZANNE G. CUSICK In this fascina� ng collec� on of essays, an interna� onal group of scholars explores the AND sonic consequences of transcultural contact in the early modern period. They examine how cultural confi gura� ons of sound impacted communica� on, comprehension, and C Acoustemologies the categorisa� on of people. Addressing ques� ons of iden� ty, diff erence, sound, and USICK subjec� vity in global early modernity, these authors share the convic� on that the body itself is the most in� mate of contact zones, and that the culturally con� ngent systems by ( in Contact which sounds made sense could be foreign to early modern listeners and to present day scholars. EDS ) ) Sounding Subjects and Modes of Drawing on a global range of archival evidence—from New France and New Spain, to Listening in Early Modernity the slave ships of the Middle Passage, to China, Europe, and the Mediterranean court A environment—this collec� on challenges the privileged posi� on of European acous� cal prac� ces within the discipline of global-historical musicology. The discussion of Black and non-European experiences demonstrates how the produc� on of ‘the canon’ in DITED BY MILY ILBOURNE AND UZANNE USICK the cosmopolitan centres of colonial empires was underpinned by processes of human E E W S G. C exploita� on and extrac� on of resources. As such, this text is a � mely response to calls within the discipline to decolonise music history and to contextualise the canonical works COUSTEMOLOGIES of the European past.
    [Show full text]
  • Identifying the Huns and the Xiongnu (Or Not): Multi-Faceted Implications and Difficulties
    University of Calgary PRISM: University of Calgary's Digital Repository Graduate Studies The Vault: Electronic Theses and Dissertations 2020-09-14 Identifying the Huns and the Xiongnu (or Not): Multi-Faceted Implications and Difficulties Sun, Xumeng Sun, X. (2020). Identifying the Huns and the Xiongnu (or Not): Multi-Faceted Implications and Difficulties (Unpublished master's thesis). University of Calgary, Calgary, AB. http://hdl.handle.net/1880/112546 master thesis University of Calgary graduate students retain copyright ownership and moral rights for their thesis. You may use this material in any way that is permitted by the Copyright Act or through licensing that has been assigned to the document. For uses that are not allowable under copyright legislation or licensing, you are required to seek permission. Downloaded from PRISM: https://prism.ucalgary.ca UNIVERSITY OF CALGARY Identifying the Huns and the Xiongnu (or Not): Multi-Faceted Implications and Difficulties by Xumeng Sun A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS GRADUATE PROGRAM IN HISTORY CALGARY, ALBERTA SEPTEMBER, 2020 © Xumeng Sun 2020 ii Abstract The origin of the Huns has been a myth since they made the first appearance in the Eastern Europe in the 370s CE. The early Roman and Gothic historians assume they came from the North, “the frozen ocean,” or the East, associated with the Alans. It was not until the eighteenth century that the French Orientalist Joseph de Guignes first proposed from the political perspective that the mysterious Huns came from Northeastern Asia, where the nomadic Xiongnu rose and became the most powerful enemy of Qin and Han dynasties (221BCE- 220 CE) in China.
    [Show full text]
  • An Armchair Scholar's World: Cornelius De Pauw and the Global
    An Armchair Scholar’s World: Cornelius de Pauw and the Global Discourse of Historiography in the late Enlightenment Author: Julian zur Lage Stable URL: http://www.globalhistories.com/index.php/GHSJ/article/view/37 DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.17169/GHSJ.2015.37 Source: Global Histories, Vol. 1, No. 1 (Dec. 2015), pp. 79–92 ISSN: 2366-780X Copyright © 2015 Julian zur Lage License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Publisher information: ‘Global Histories: A Student Journal’ is an open-access bi-annual journal founded in 2015 by students of the M.A. program Global History at Freie Universität Berlin and Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. ‘Global Histories’ is published by an editorial board of Global History students in association with the Freie Universität Berlin. Freie Universität Berlin Global Histories: A Student Journal Friedrich-Meinecke-Institut Koserstraße 20 14195 Berlin Contact information: For more information, please consult our website www.globalhistories.com or contact the editor at: [email protected]. An Armchair Scholar’s World: Cornelius de Pauw and the Global Discourse of Historiography in the late Enlightenment JULIAN ZUR LAGE Julian zu Lage has both a BA (2013) and MA (2015) in history from the Ludwig-Maximilians- Universität München. This paper is based on his master’s thesis on American historiography in the late 18th Century. He is currently a PhD student in Osnabrück, in the graduate program ‘Wissensspeicher und Argumentationsarsenal. Funktionen der Bibliothek in den kulturellen Zentren der Frühen Neuzeit‘ which was created in cooperation with the Herzog August Bib- liothek Wolfenbüttel. His thesis will focus on the role of libraries in regards to German 18th- Century compilations on the non-European world.
    [Show full text]