Nov 29: Archaeology and Nationalism Flashcards
How does the concept of origins connect to narratives about nation-states?
Creating origins (origin myths) allowed a nation to be constituted by a set of beliefs and commonly held traits that define ethno-national identity.
Origin myths: Stories about people in the past that purport to detail an ethnic group: these could be stories about migration and conquest or of long continuous generational descent or being the original inhabitants of an area.
Connecting nation-states to origins often relied on the narrative that used the metaphor of a human body: birth, growth, maturity and decline.
What is the relationship between archaeology and claims to indigeneity (a claim to original or natural occupation of a territory)?
Archaeology of borders and boundaries is the study of material expressions of group identity
in the past and their relation to territory.
Archaeological artifacts/material evidence provide evidence and support for nation’s “deep national pasts” by looking at achievements and shared beliefs in the past carried into modern states, supporting why they should stay or claim the “territory.”
Stories of generational descent or autochthony(born from itself)/indigeneity (being part of the original or first inhabitants of an area)
These are powerful argument for the “eternal” nature of an ethnic group and shows claims and rights for a nation to exist in a territory due to their archaeologically supported origins
How has archaeology been used by regimes in the 20th century to create the idea of a national history? How does the claim of a national history relate to claims of territorial control?
Modern nation-states construct deep national pasts through evidence and archaeology. They look to see what worked by analyzing patterns. Nations are constructed through common sets of beliefs, religions, and languages. Territorial control means power. If you enclose and control land, you prove a sense of identity and strength—homogeneity within these territories.
