The Journey of Kalidas Datta and the Construction of Regional History in Pre- and Post-Independent Bengal,India

Abstract

Through the work of amateur archaeologist Kalidas Datta, this paper explores an alternative view of archaeology in India. Datta's writings, produced between the late 1920s and the early 1960s, reconstruct the regional history of the Sundarbans, a region lying in the south 24 Parganas, West Bengal, in eastern India. The late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries saw the crystallization of a nationalist reaction against British colonial rule. Datta's publications, produced outside the institutional structure of the Archaeological Survey of India, the University of Calcutta, and the local societies dedicated to promoting Bengali history and archaeology, can be used to reveal how a geographical region was transformed into a cultural entity in pre- and post-independent Bengal. This paper explores whether this transformation led to the formation of a distinct regional identity and to what extent this regional identity was important when considering the professional institutional efforts to create an overarching Bengali history and identity. These queries are situated in the backdrop of early twentieth-century developments in the intellectual milieu of Bengal. Although framed in regional terms, these developments have wider implications for understanding Indian nationhood, during a period when nation states in much of Asia and the Middle East were emerging.     

AN ASSESSMENT OF THE CURRENT APPLICATIONS AND FUTURE DIRECTIONS OF OBSIDIAN SOURCING STUDIES IN ARCHAEOLOGICAL RESEARCH*

This paper thematically characterizes a large body of recent obsidian sourcing discourse as a means of highlighting the current place of obsidian provenance studies in larger archaeological discourse. It is shown that the field of obsidian sourcing is flourishing, with a clear upward trend in the number of published studies in the past decade. This paper further argues that sourcing is a means to an end, a way to determine where artefacts originate, and thus a means of addressing broader archaeological problems. Through this contextual framework, obsidian sourcing studies—and indeed all provenance studies—are seen as relevant because they transcend the increasingly specialized world of archaeological discourse.     

PROCESSING CLAY FOR POTTERY IN NORTHERN CAMEROON: SOCIAL AND TECHNICAL REQUIREMENTS*

For several decades, interpreting technical variations in the physical characteristics of pottery has followed two major trends: the ‘cultural’approach and the ‘behavioural or ‘techno‐functionalist’approach. Using data collected during extensive ethnographic fieldwork, I will consider the relative importance of social and technical requirements in the field of clay processing techniques in the Faro area (northern Cameroon) 1 will show that environmental and techno‐functional constraints cannot explain technical variations, while cultural factors appear determinant. However, faking the discussion one step further, I will show the complexity of the social/cultural mechanism involved in the regional distribution of these techniques.     

CHARTERS,NORTHUMBRIA AND THE UNIFICATION OF ENGLAND IN THE TENTH AND ELEVENTH CENTURIES

Abstract

This article examines the relationship between the clergy and their secular neighbours in the diocese of Durham in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries. In particular, it seeks to uncover the extent to which the two spheres experienced a shared sense of identity, in a period when that relationship was being recalibrated as the full impact of the Reformation was making itself felt. For example, the novelty of clerical marriage, within and without the clerical community, as well as oppositional doctrinal and confessional outlooks, were superimposed on to existing associations and networks. In other respects interaction between the clergy and lay society fluctuated between harmonious and positive to contentious and damaging. Meanwhile, preconceptions about the diocese are re-examined in the context of this relationship.     

Northern Songs,Sporting Heroes and Regional Consciousness,c.1800—c.1880: ‘Wor Stars that Shine’

Abstract

The achievements, triumphs and disasters of leading northern semi-professional sportsmen were already being celebrated in broadsides at the start of the nineteenth century, and with the rise of when music hall entertainment became popular songs featuring such sportsmen became an important part of popular culture in Northumberland, Durham and Cumberland, the three Border counties. This article first shows what we know of the surviving songs and their performers, and then explores the ways in which such songs presented a picture of the nature and characteristics of northern sporting celebrity, in the context of a complex variety of local and regional sporting identities, especially in relation to other towns in the North and, more particularly, London. Sporting songs focused on individual success. They rejected the amateur ideals of athleticism, especially in terms of betting, and celebrated physicality, manliness and having a good time. Rowing was the most common focus of songs on Tyneside, wrestling in Cumberland, while horse racing, pedestrianism and boxing were also regularly covered.     

A Disgruntled Tourist in King Arthur's Court: Archaeology and Identity at Tintagel,Cornwall

Abstract

'Welcome to Tintagel, the birthplace of King Arthur' is a phrase often repeated at this small village on the north coast of Cornwall where legend, childhood stories and merchandise all serve to attract thousands of visitors per year. As 'a place to go', the area provides stunning coastal scenery, a romantic ruined castle and a highly commercialised village. Tintagel Island, owned by the Duchy of Cornwall but managed by English Heritage, plays centre stage as the 'birthplace' in question. On-site, the character of Arthur is largely debunked as a literary phenomenon and, furthermore, a survey of day-trippers revealed that visitors were left in an interpretive limbo — arriving with ideas of Arthur and leaving knowing little about Tintagel.

Whilst the aesthetics of the castle and scenery go some way towards mitigating against disappointment, on site encounters with kitsch representations of the past combine with more amorphous senses of pseudo-spiritual atmospheres as well as experiences of walking, eating and drinking to ultimately provide a 'grand day out'. The marketing ephemera and heritage presentation all serve to create, reinforce and suppress different identities of place which are revealed as being a fairly cohesive package of Celtic-Arthuriana. This paper questions the ways in which visitors' expectation and imagination are mediated through experience of place.     

Constructing National Identity: The Image of the Medieval Grand Duchy of Lithuania in Lithuanian Art from the 1920s to the 1990s

Abstract

This article provides an overview of the ways in which the image of the medieval Grand Duchy of Lithuania, intended to awaken the national pride and contribute to the building of the national identity, was constructed by artistic means in the Republic of Lithuania during the 1920s and 1930s. It contains a brief discussion on the genesis of the image of the Grand Duchy, including the selection of appropriate historical heroes and events, and the main aspects of their interpretation. The article analyses some of the most striking and influential examples of the image of medieval Lithuania, such as the celebrations of the 500th anniversary of the death of Grand Duke Vytautas the Great in 1930 and art works created for that purpose, the decoration of public buildings (for example, the Museum of War and the Officers’ Club in Kaunas, and Lithuania’s pavilion in the New York World Fair of 1939). It also looks briefly at the dissemination of the image of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in popular culture. The article also touches on isolated efforts by a number of intellectuals to warn of the dangers inherent in the extreme glorification of the past. The image of the medieval Grand Duchy of Lithuania, created in interwar Lithuania, was preserved during the period of Soviet occupation. After the restoration of Lithuanian independence in 1990, this image had a significant influence on the mentality and culture of Lithuanian society at the turn of the millennium. In this respect the situation in Lithuania could be treated as a case study, for a similar relation to the past can be encountered in other European post-Communist countries faced with the problem of creating a new identity.     

Casting Identity in the Cultural Tourism Industry: Greek Tourist Guides in a 'Mission' of Heritage Interpretation

Abstract

The focus of this article is on how identity on a local level is expressed through cultural heritage interpretation and negotiated in an environment of globalization, but also multiculturalism and promotion of locality, like the European Union (EU). Interpretation is public communication of perceptions and values attached to heritage, and a main component of cultural tourism. Tourist guides in Greece, where guiding is strictly regulated, have been confronted with the EU on several occasions. Through the examination of this conflict, issues such as rights of interpretation, the projected image and identity of place and people, otherness and identity realization, the role of education and especially archaeology in governing, as perceived by the Greek tourist guides, are examined and analysed in the contexts of audience, state and the EU.