Selective remembrances : archaeology in the construction, commemoration, and consecration of national pasts / edited by Philip L. Kohl, Mara Kozelsky, and Nachman Ben-Yehuda.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Kohl, Philip L., 1946-

Kozelsky, Mara

Ben-Yehuda, Nachman

Class of 1924 Book Fund.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Archaeology--Political aspects--Case studies.

Archaeology.

Archaeology and state--Case studies.

Archaeology and state.

Nationalism--Case studies.

Nationalism.

Memory--Political aspects.

Historiography--Political aspects.

Historiography.

Archaeology--Political aspects.

Historiography--Political aspects--Case studies.

Memory--Political aspects--Case studies.

Memory.

Genre:

Case studies.

Physical Description:

426 pages : illustrations, maps ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Chicago : University of Chicago Press, 2007.

Summary:

When political geography changes, how do reorganized or newly formed states justify their rule and create a sense of shared history for their people? Often, the essays in Selective Remembrances reveal, they turn to archaeology, employing the field and its findings to develop nationalistic feelings and forge legitimate distinctive national identities.

Examining such relatively new or reconfigured nation-states as Iran, Iraq, Israel, Russia, India, and Thailand, Selective Remembrances shows how states invoke the remote past to extol the glories of specific peoples or prove claims to ancestral homelands. Religion has long played a key role in such efforts, and the contributors take care to demonstrate the tendency of many people, including archaeologists themselves, to view the world through a religious lens-which can be exploited by new regimes to suppress objective study of the past and justify contemporary political actions.

Contents:

Introduction: Selective Remembrances: Archaeology in the Construction, Commemoration, and Consecration of National Pasts / Philip L. Kohl, Mara Kozelsky, Nachman Ben-Yehuda 1

Part 1 Russia and Eastern Europe

1 Russian Response: Archaeology, Russian Nationalism, and the "Arctic Homeland" / Victor A. Shnirelman 31

2 The Challenges of Church Archaeology in Post-Soviet Crimea / Mara Kozelsky 71

3 The Writing of Caucasian Albania: Facts and Falsifications / Murtazali S. Gadjiev 99

4 Archaeology and Nationalism in The History of the Romanians / Gheorghe Alexandru Niculescu 127

Part 2 The Near East

5 The Rise of the Hittite Sun: A Deconstruction of Western Civilization from the Margin / Wendy Shaw 163

6 The Sense of Belonging: The Politics of Archaeology in Modern Iraq / Magnus T. Bernhardsson 189

7 The Name Game: The Persian Gulf, Archaeologists, and the Politics of Arab-Iranian Relations / Kamyar Abdi 206

Part 3 Israel/Palestine

8 Excavating Masada: The Politics-Archaeology Connection at Work / Nachman Ben-Yehuda 247

9 Recovering Authenticity: West-Bank Settlers and the Second Stage of National Archaeology / Michael Feige 277

10 Appropriating the Past: Heritage, Tourism, and Archaeology in Israel / Uzi Baram 299

11 An Archaeology of Palestine: Mourning a Dream / Ghada Ziadeh-Seely 326

Part 4 South and Southeast Asia

12 The Aryan Homeland Debate in India / Shereen Ratnagar 349

13 The Impact of Colonialism and Nationalism in the Archaeology of Thailand / Rasmi Shoocongdei 379.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Local Notes:

Acquired for the Penn Libraries with assistance from the Class of 1924 Book Fund.

ISBN:

9780226450582

0226450589

9780226450599

0226450597

OCLC:

128236381

Online:

Contributor biographical information

Publisher description