Archaeology and Nationalism: Excavating the Foundations of Identity

Parkins, Helen

doi:10.1111/j.1354-5078.1997.00451.x

Cited by 5 publications

(2 citation statements)

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“…71 See Kohl and Fawcett 1995. In their introduction the editors discuss the reasons why the links between nationalism and archaeology have been an "unstudied and unacknowledged phenomenon" in academic literature (14). See also the review article of three recent works in the fi eld, Parkins 1997. See also the special issue of the journal Nations and Nationalism, 7 (2001), issue 4, about archaeology and nationalism.…”

Section: "To Cherish and Conserve": Th E Politics Of Archaeology And mentioning

confidence: 99%

Bones of Contention: Buddhist Relics, Nationalism and the Politics of Archaeology

Brekke

2007

Numen

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Relics of Sāriputta and Moggallāna, two of the Buddha's closest disciples, were discovered by Fred. C. Maisey and Alexander Cunningham in a stūpa at Sānchī in 1851 and were re-enshrined at the same place in November 1952. Th e exact whereabouts of the relics between these two dates has been uncertain, partly because both Buddhists and scholars have assumed, incorrectly, that the relics that were brought back to India had been in the possession of Mr Cunningham. Th e purpose of this article is to give a detailed account ot the relics of Sāriputta and Moggallāna found at Sānchī. Th e account is based on correspondence and notes about the relics found in archives of the Victoria & Albert Museum, London, and on relevant sources published by the Maha Bodhi Society. I argue that the quarrel over the relics was an important part of the revival of Buddhism from the end of the nineteenth century. I also discuss how the relics of the two saints were used by the government of India as nationalist symbols.

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Section: "To Cherish and Conserve": Th E Politics Of Archaeology And mentioning

confidence: 99%

Bones of Contention: Buddhist Relics, Nationalism and the Politics of Archaeology

Brekke

2007

Numen

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“…Politics, anthropologists advise us, always interferes in historical writing and myth making: 16 the politics of identity consists in anchoring the present in a viable past. The past is, thus, constructed according to the conditions and desires of those who produce historical texts in the present.…”

Section: Anthropologymentioning

confidence: 99%

Nation Building, History Writing and Competition over the Legacy of Kyiv Rus in Ukraine

Adjunct¹

2005

Natl. pap.

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This article surveys the history of Kyiv Rus within the realm of nation building, identity and historical myths. It argues that Ukraine's elites believe that Western, Russian and Soviet schools of history on Kyiv Rus (and Ukraine) are incompatible with nation and state building.Two schools-Ukrainophile and East Slavic-compete within Ukraine. Nevertheless, the former has been promoted as the dominant school by ruling elites, many of whom date from the Soviet Ukrainian SSR and might personally favour the East Slavic framework. As Stepanenko states, Hrushevsky "is factually theorizing the most convincing version of Ukrainian history." 1 This article therefore shows how the elites have concluded that the Ukrainophile school is more compatible with post-Soviet Ukrainian nation building. This factor is of interest to scholars because the Ukrainophile school was, and in some cases still is, defined as "nationalist" (i.e. in effect, unscholarly) by Western and Russian historians.The article is divided into two sections. The first provides a theoretical and comparative overview of historical myths and nation building within studies of nationalism in political science, anthropology and postcolonialism studies. It then discusses the competition between the Ukrainophile and East Slavic as a not untypical postmodernist phenomenon.The second section discusses how the Ukrainophile view of the Kyiv Rus legacy is being promoted and contested by the East Slavic alternative. 2 This alternative is surveyed within education, the security forces, symbols, monuments and warding off territorial claims by neighbours. Reclaiming the Past: A Theoretical OverviewWithin studies of nationalism in political science, anthropology and postcolonial studies the rewriting of history and historical myths is often treated in different ways. Nevertheless, in all three scholarly studies (although not in mainstream political science) the issue of myths and history writing is largely understood as part of the nation-building aspects of nation-states.

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‘A veritable chauvinism of prehistory’: nationalist prehistories and the ‘British’ late Neolithic mythos

Barclay

Brophy

2020

Archaeological Journal

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This article examines the interpretation and public presentation of a particular view of the supposedly 'national' role of monuments in a geographically restricted part of southern England -what we have termed the British late Neolithic mythos: that monuments in the Stonehenge area had a 'national', 'unifying' role for 'Britain' at a time when 'Britain' had a 'unified culture' and was isolated from continental Europe, and that as part of that process, animals for feasting were transported from as far as 'Scotland'. We explore the trajectory of interpretative inflation, 'possible' > 'probable' > 'certain' > 'sensational' through academic and popular accounts, media releases, social media, newspaper articles, TV programmes, Research Excellence Framework impact reports, and the publications of the Arts & Humanities Research Council. We critically examine the evidence claimed to underpin this far-reaching re-interpretation of British prehistory. We examine the extent to which a priori assumptions can shape the interpretation of complex datasets and how unacknowledged nationalist and neocolonialist thinking underpin its interpretation. We consider the way in which researchers have linked their work with contemporary politics -Brexit, a 'united Britain' isolated from Europe, perhaps to demonstrate 'relevance, 'impact' and 'reach' to funding bodies. We conclude with some suggestions on ways forward including further research, and mitigating strategies.'Error is an occupational hazard of the literary life. As soon as a man sets pen to paper he sets himself open to error: one, his own, which is bad enough; and, two, the misunderstanding of those who read him, which is infinite'.

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Archaeology and Nationalism: Excavating the Foundations of Identity

Abstract: Margarita Diaz‐Andreu and Timothy C. Champion Nationalism and Archeology in Europe. P. Graves‐Brown, S. Jones, C. Gamble (eds.) Cultural Identity and Archaeology: the Construction of European Communities. P. Kohl, C. Fawcett (eds.) Nationalism, Politics and the Practice of Archaeology.

Cited by 5 publications

References 0 publications

Bones of Contention: Buddhist Relics, Nationalism and the Politics of Archaeology

Bones of Contention: Buddhist Relics, Nationalism and the Politics of Archaeology

Nation Building, History Writing and Competition over the Legacy of Kyiv Rus in Ukraine

‘A veritable chauvinism of prehistory’: nationalist prehistories and the ‘British’ late Neolithic mythos

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