In this article, we present examples from four research projects in India that were influenced by the values and ethics of decolonized and participatory research, and shaped by engendered perspectives. Each project built on earlier experiences that forced us to critically examine the ways we engaged with participants, crafted our field identities, and formed relationships. Using insights from linguistic anthropology and attending to intersectional inequalities and the construction of epistemic authority, we showcase how conducting an ethnography of communication and employing tactics of intersubjectivity influenced archaeological outcomes. We argue that close attention to context of communication, identity expression, and intersectional inequality enhances intersubjectivity, a necessary ingredient for successful participatory archaeology projects. [participatory research, listening, identity, ethnography of communication, India, intersubjectivity, intersectionality]
The Asokan edicts are a familiar and common form of archaeological and textual
evidence frequently cited in discussions of the Mauryan polity. This paper is an
attempt to move toward a more nuanced understanding of these inscriptions by
examining earlier interpretations and previously held assumptions. One of the major
assumptions questioned here is the way in which the edicts are frequently viewed as
boundary markers of a uniformly administered empire.
The focus here is on the edicts found in the southern Deccan; a region whose
actual relationship with the northern-based Mauryas is little understood but an area
that is often assumed to have been incorporated into their empire. This interpretation
is primarily supported by the presence of eleven rock edicts in the modern-day
states of Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. However, a closer look at the context,
content, and composition of the edicts suggests that the relationship of this region to
the Mauryan polity is not necessarily as clear-cut as previously believed. A structural
loosening of the epistemological definition of empire has re-opened questions of
what this relationship might have looked like and how it can be studied.
A critically refined analysis of the edicts is useful in providing a starting point to
this inquiry, particularly by examining the question of meaning. By adopting the use
of multidisciplinary perspectives, this paper argues that a simultaneous analysis of
archaeological context, historical content, and linguistic composition is a useful
strategy for examining issues of intended meaning and audience through the more
specific problems of visibility, address, and comprehension.
The Mauryan Empire, an early South Asian polity, was once presumed to have exerted control over most of the Indian subcontinent. A reexamination of both archaeological and historical evidence suggests a different interpretation of Mauryan imperialism -one that has less to do with territorial control and instead looks to a relational network perspective. This perspective allows a view of the Mauryan polity that goes beyond the political dimension to examine long-term patterns of interaction during the Early Historic period (ca. 600 B.C.E.-C.E. 600). Additionally, this model may be extended to include parallel networks of interaction that existed independently of political authority and would endure beyond the decline of various dynastic powers. [Mauryan Empire, sovereignty, territoriality, Early Historic period, South Asia]
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