Cultural Meanings and Cultural Structures in Historical Explanation

One way to recast the problem of cultural explanation in historical inquiry is to distinguish two conceptualizations involving culture: (1) cultural meanings as contents of signification (however theorized) that inform meaningful courses of action in historically unfolding circumstances; and (2) cultural structures as institutionalized patterns of social life that may be elaborated in more than one concrete construction of meaning. This distinction helps to suggest how explanation can operate in accounting for cultural processes of meaning-formation, as well as in other ways that transcend specific meanings, yet are nonetheless cultural. Examples of historical explanation involving each construct are offered, and their potential examined.     

Some Afterthoughts on Culture and Explanation in Historical Inquiry

I argue here that the articles in this forum contain basic agreements. All three reject naturalism, reductionism, and monism while retaining causality as an explanatory category, and all three emphasize the role of time and argue for a view in which culture is regarded as both structured and contingent.
The differences among the explanatory proposals of Hall, Biernacki, and Kane are as important as the similarities: while Hall favors a Weberian approach, Biernacki argues for a primarily pragmatic explanation of culture, and Kane for a primarily semiotic explanation. I argue that all three positions face immanent problems in elucidating the exact nature of cultural explanation. While Hall leaves the problem of "extrinsic" ideal-typical explanation unsolved, Biernacki simply presupposes the superiority of pragmatic over other types of cultural explanation, and Kane does the same for semiotic explanation. Hints at cultural explanation in the form of narrative remain underargued and are built on old ideas of an opposition between "analysis" and "narrative." This is also the case with the latest plea for "analytic narratves." I conclude that a renewed reflection on this opposition is called for in order to come to grips with cultural explanation and to get beyond the old stereotypes regarding the relationship between historical and social-scientific approaches to the past.     

Cultural Identity and the Archaeological Construction of Historical Narratives: An Example from Chaco Canyon

The Bonito Phase (ca. AD 850 to 1140) in Chaco Canyon, New Mexico, is widely assumed by archeologists to reflect the growth and decline of a coherent sociopolitical entity, one of the classic examples of emergent social complexity among ancient indigenous North American populations ending in a societal collapse. This understanding of Chaco is based, in part, on the interpretation of temporal changes in material culture as intentional efforts to maintain cultural identity and continuity in the face of social disruption. In this study, I suggest that the Bonito Phase actually encompassed at least one major episode of cultural discontinuity, calling into question the perception of a distinct “Chaco society.” Instead, patterns of material production in Chaco point to multiple cultural identities linked to serial reoccupation of the canyon.     

Southeast Asian Lives: Personal Narratives and Historical Experience

Intellectual cross-pollination between oral history and anthropologyis a long tradition. Editor and contributor Waterson arguesthat the influence of oral history on life narrative researchin anthropology intensified during the 1980s but needs freshemphasis. A primary goal in Southeast Asian Lives is to promotethe thoughtful use of oral history life narratives, especiallyto explore the influence of twentieth-century dramatic historicalchanges on individual lives and cultures. Her "Introduction:Analyzing Personal Narratives" is a useful and thought-provokingsurvey of theoretical issues on oral narratives, especiallyfor anyone doing cross-cultural     

在国家叙事与地方叙事之间——英国北约克郡乡村博物馆实践

作为工业化程度较低的非都市郡,英国北约克郡保存着完好的乡村景观和历史建筑。自19世纪,英国便出现乡村生活的博物馆化,在保护乡村景观的同时也致力于收藏、保存乡村记忆。北约克郡乡村博物馆的产生和发展植根于英国社会和文化情境。乡村博物馆实践不仅是国家价值的体现,也是调节社会结构和社会关系的重要机制。在国家话语体系内界定"乡村"的同时,也承担起塑造地方感和地方认同。反观我国乡村博物馆,其实践以20世纪90年代的生态博物馆建设为肇始,秉承对村落景观进行整体性保护的理念。然而,在具体建设中仍然面临激发村落居民文化自觉性,建立有效的运营、管理机制的挑战。     

Living Mesolithic Time: Narratives,Chronologies and Organic Material Culture

British and Irish Mesolithic studies have long been characterized by a reliance on broad-scale lithic typologies, both to provide chronologies, and in discussion of ‘cultural’ groups. More recently, traditional narrative structures—period definitions of ‘Early’ and ‘Late’, or culture typologies—have been complemented by a host of other evidence. This has included new studies of site stratigraphy, evidence for seasonality, and material culture chaîne opératoire chronologies, which place a greater emphasis on both temporal precision and the lived experiences of Mesolithic peoples. This paper will consider how the study of organic artefacts forces these narrative scales into acute focus, and presents an opportunity to explore the challenges in synthesizing different forms of data. We discuss how the evidence from sites in Ireland and Britain allows for new approaches, and highlight some of the challenges that this evidence presents, not least the perennial issue of moving from site-specific data to broader narratives. While the nature of earlier prehistoric evidence makes this an especially obvious issue for Mesolithic studies, it is one which generally besets archaeology. We suggest that in order to move beyond this in earlier prehistoric studies specifically, we need to make better use of all evidence sources, however seemingly prosaic, including antiquarian collections in museums, and chance and casual finds. Only by including the raft of available data, and recognizing its utility beyond the sum of individual apparently uninspiring parts, can we begin to move from generalizing narratives to more nuanced archaeological understandings of past material worlds.     

再造罗马:晚期罗马多神教知识精英的历史叙述

作为公元4—5世纪罗马帝国的多神教知识精英,朱利安、里巴尼乌斯、阿米安、攸纳皮乌斯、克劳迪安、奥林匹奥多鲁斯等六位作家在表达各自历史观念的作品中不约而同地采取了高度相似的叙述模式。他们以罗马城为帝国的文化象征,赞美罗马往昔的文治武功,谴责当前的道德没落,坚信某位杰出的精英人物能够带领罗马再造辉煌。这种再造罗马的模式继承了帝国早期的意识形态传统,并在基督教势力相对忽视世俗历史的背景下得以生存。这些多神教知识精英的历史撰述为后世留下了重要遗产,它们反映了古典文化的强大生命力,并与同时代的基督教文化产生了互动,对中世纪基督教政治理论和历史观的形成起到了推动作用。     

广富林遗址良渚文化遗存

上海松江广富林遗址经过多次野外发掘工作的开展,对良渚文化晚期遗存的认识有了很大提高,为良渚文化分期补充了很多新的材料。一良渚文化遗存在广富林遗址的分布范围很大Ⅱ区主要是良渚墓葬区,大致情况已作报道①,不再赘叙,这里主要讨论Ⅰ区的良渚晚期遗存。广富林遗址Ⅰ区良渚     

Distorted Narratives: Morocco,Spain, and the Colonial Stratigraphy of Cultural Heritage

International cultural development projects entail a neoliberal agenda that frequently echoes colonial ideologies and discourses. Using the case study of Chaouen, a northern city in Morocco, I argue in this paper that former colonies and aid-receiving countries usually overlap, and serve the former metropolises to continue controlling the former colony’s human and economic resources. I discuss how the former colonial power, in this case Spain, regulates and promotes a particular heritage discourse that has conveniently been depoliticised. I further contend that in line with previous colonial narratives, Spain has silenced the painful history of struggle and resilience of the inhabitants of Chaouen.     

大遗址保护提出的历史叙事

系统分析“大遗址”及“大遗址保护”作为重要文物保护政策提出和专项保护行动出台的历史背景、重要事件和主要特点,从历史渊源、学术支撑、管理需求、制度保障四个方面展开,兼论彼此之间的交流互动与共同推进,并依据时代背景不同和工作内容侧重划分为三大阶段,试图为了解这一政策和专项行动出台的历史背景及相关问题构建一个比较系统的认知框架.     

Rituals of Rebellion: Cultural Narratives and Metadiscourse of Violent Conflict in Iron Age and Medieval Denmark

Abstract

Despite modern notions of cultural homogeneity in southern Scandinavia, substantial ethnic differences characterized its Iron Age and early Medieval populations. Creation of a unified state from earlier social formations ignited rifts leading to social disorder, rebellion, and uprising during a transitional era when upper and lower classes felt these changes most sharply. Ethnohistoric evidence preserves a record of ritualized public performances by state and local leaders, revealing relationships that shifted between fear, negotiation, challenge, and defiance. This is compared against archaeological evidence of widespread, rapid changes in settlement organization in some regions, and relative stability in others, interpreted as outcomes of unsuccessful and successful challenges to state authority. Groups electing to use violent conflict in challenging the state, who also had histories of inter-group interaction, were better able to preserve autonomy than those attempting legalistic arguments and 'rational' negotiations. Data are interpreted in light of ethnographic case studies and contemporary social theory.     

Food as a Cultural Practice among the Mapuche in Santiago de Chile

This article highlights the role of food as an essential tool for immigrant Mapuche families to reinforce their ethnic identity and pass it on to the younger generations in Santiago de Chile. Food and food-related practices were a topic that many Mapuche referred to when they were invited to talk about their culture and life in Santiago; this simultaneously revealed their relation to ‘others’ (Chileans) and their connectedness to their ancestral lands in the Araucania region in the south. Staying attuned and connected to the south through Mapuche food strengthens feelings of cultural continuity and belonging, such that Mapuche ethnic identity does not surrender to the city, but rather is re-created in a new environment.