Silk roads : from local realities to global narratives / edited by Jeffrey D. Lerner and Yaohua Shi.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Lerner, Jeffrey D., editor.

Shi, Yaohua, editor.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Silk Road--History.

Silk Road.

Physical Description:

1 online resource : illustrations (some color), maps (some color)

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

Oxford, England : Oxbow Books, [2020]

Summary:

In recent decades, there has been a new surge of interest in the history and legacies of the Silk Roads both within academic and public discourses. A field of Silk Roads Studies has come into its own. Consciously mirroring the temperament of its subject, the field has moved out of the narrow niches of particular disciplines to become a truly interdisciplinary endeavor. New research findings about the historical operations of the Silk Roads and interpretations of their legacies for the modern and contemporary world have broken down geographical and temporal divides that once demarcated the Silk Roads as primarily pre-modern and Old World-centered conduits of globalization. In light of these developments, the time is ripe to begin formulating a new definition of the contour of Silk Roads Studies and laying a new foundation for further work in this field. Silk Roads: From Local Realities to Global Narratives brings together leading scholars in multiple disciplines related to Silk Roads studies. It highlights the multiplicity of networks that constituted the Silk Roads, including land and maritime routes, and approaches the Silk Roads from Antiquity to China's One Belt One Road Initiative from Afro-Eurasia to the Americas. This holistic approach to understanding ancient globalization, exchanges, transformations, and movements - and their continued relevance to the present - is in line with contemporary academic trends toward interdisciplinarity. Indeed, the Silk Roads is such an expansive topic that many approaches to its study must be included to represent accurately its many facets. The volume emphasizes exchange and transformation along the Silk Roads - moments of acculturation or hybridization that contributed to novel syncretic forms. It highlights the multiplicity of networks that constituted the Silk Roads, including land and maritime routes, and approaches to the Silk Roads from Antiquity to China's One Belt One Road Initiative from Afro-Eurasia to the Americas.

Contents:

Cover

Book Title

Copyright

Table of Contents

Preface

Acknowledgements

Contributors

Introduction : Jeffrey D. Lerner and Yaohua Shi

Section One: Acculturation and Hybridization

1. The 'Birth' of the Silk Road Between Ecological Frontiers and Military Innovation : Nicola Di Cosmo

2. Sogdians in Shanxi (386 CE-618 CE): Literary and Archeological Evidence : Xiaoyan Qi

3. From Exotic Toys to Objects of Scientific Inquiry: A Special Way of Transmitting European Optical Knowledge in the Qing Dynasty : Yunli Shi

4. The Karakorum Highway: Gateway of Empires, Religions, and Commerce : Saba Samee

Section Two: Understanding Spice Through Interdisciplinarity

5. A TRP Along the Silk Roads: How and Why We Detect and Use Spices : Wayne L. Silver and Cecil J. Saunders

6. Silk Road Pharmacy: Debating Theriac and Defining the Natural World : Monique O'Connell

7. Spice and Taste in the Culinary World of the Early Modern Mediterranean : Eric Dursteler

Section Three: Tradition as Continuity and Change

8. Devotional Prints and Practice: Woodcuts from the Library Cave at Dunhuang : Bernadine Barnes

9. Dome of Heaven: From the Lantern Ceiling to the Chinese Wooden Dome : Di Luo

10. 'Malacca' - From Fabled Port to Muddy Lagoon: A Cautionary Tale of Ecological Disaster : Margaret Sarkissian

11. 21st-century Trading Routes in Mongolia: Changing Pastoral Soundscapes and Lifeways : Jennifer C. Post

12. Erasing the Local, Celebrating the Local: Tracing the Contradictions of the Silk Road in Pakistan : Chad Haines

Section Four: Cultural Transactions

13. Arsacid Economic Activity on the Silk Road : Touraj Daryaee

14. Pearls and Power: Chōla's Tribute Mission to the Northern Song Court within the Maritime Silk Road Trade Network : James A. Anderson.

15. 'Flying Cash': Credit Instruments on the Silk Roads : Dan Du

Section Five: Long-Distance Commodity Trade

16. The Case for Shipwrecked Indians in Germany : Jeffrey D. Lerner

17. Samuel Shaw's 'Maritime Silk Road' from American Independence towards Monopoly, 1784-1794 : John A. Ruddiman.

Notes:

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (EBook Central, viewed June 12, 2025).

Includes bibliographical references.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

9781789254730

1789254736

9781789254716

178925471X