Final Project

My final project can be found at
http://silkroadsogdians.blogspot.com/

War Crimes Against Culture

Before reading this weeks articles, "Unesco's Rehabilitation of Afghanistan's Cultural Heritage: Mandate and Recent Activities" and "Afghan Cultural Heritage and International Law: The Case of the Buddha’s of Bamiyan" I never realized the toll war could take on cultural objects. It is common knowledge that war is very destructive, it murders millions of people, and abolishes infrastructure. I think a lot of people including myself forget that because of war many cultural objects are completely destroyed, stolen, or ruined. Cultural objects are extremely important to sustaining the heritage of a peoples and they are important factors in the history of a peoples. According to Francioni and Lenzerini the destruction of the Bamiyan Buddha’s was considered a war crime. This again shows that the destruction of cultural objects was a negative consequence of war and the destruction is equal to that of destroying infrastructure or murdering people.

The article "Unesco's Rehabilitation of Afghanistan's Cultural Heritage: Mandate and Recent Activities" outlines all of the money various governments gave to help the preservation of Afghanistan’s cultural heritage. The article states that "funding and other forms of assistance well exceeding the $7 million pledged during the May 2002 Kabul Seminar have been given for cultural projects in Afghanistan." (59) I wonder if people think all this money being poured into persevering Afghanistan's cultural heritage is too much? Would people think this money should go to other programs like food and shelter programs instead of spending so much money on restoring cultural objects? In my opinion I think cultural objects are just as important. They define a peoples, they become part of your life and the way you live. They help define you and it is important to make sure no culture is lost because no culture is more superior to another so we must treat each culture equally.

Islam

Before reading the article by Hirschkind and Mahmood I did not know how heavily involved the United States was in Afghanistan and how the environment they created helped the Taliban rise to power. By writing this article I think Hirschkind and Mahmood are trying to state that the West should not oversimplify and make assumptions, and how these assumptions have consequences on the Islamic faith. The article states that the Taliban policies “did not substantially affect the lives of the vast majority of rural women” as well as some women felt safer from being raped. They state that Feminist Majority in the West left these ambiguities out of their campaigns. By leaving out this information it can alter what actually was happening at that time. I wonder if the Feminist Majority were to include this information in their campaigns would they have been as successful.
            They also argue that assumptions and oversimplification of Islam had a negative effect on Non-Western culture. Anything that is not part of Western culture was seen as a threat. The West is very concerned with secularizing political issues and anything else in the public sphere which leads to complications for Muslims living in Western societies, for example the article states that headscarves were banned in French public life in 1994. Is all this Western influence really necessary?

There is no doubt that women were oppressed during the Taliban rule in Afghanistan and in other times however I believe that Hirschkind and Mahmood are trying to stress that nothing should be taken at face value and that assuming information leads to a misrepresentation of what is actually going on.

Living in a City During the Tang Dynasty

Hansen’s article describes life in Changan during the Tang Dynasty. It seems as though life in Changan was highly organized. Much thought was put into the layout of the city; the market had to be in the north while the emperor’s audience hall must face the south so that his back is facing the market. This is to illustrate that the status of a person involved in commerce was low. The negative view attributed to people involved in commerce and the city layout are examples of a society based on class. Also the essay mentions a story of a young man who cannot escape his class no matter what he does, which again illustrates that social class was important and there was little mobility among the classes. This is not unique to Changan, this is a theme found in many articles that I have read for this class. The markets were also heavily supervised by the government. There was a market supervisor who over saw everything that had to do with the market including checking the quality of goods, currency, etc. This reminded me of the society that I live in today. We have departments in the government that regulate things like goods and currency to this day. However the merchants were not the only ones who were under government supervision, the commoners also experienced this. Therefore everyone in Changan was controlled by the government, illustrating again an organized society.

Bundy`s Missiological Reflections on Nestorian Christianity in China During the Tang Dynasty argues that the Nestorians did have an impact in China during the Tang Dynasty however not a great one. The essay states that foreigners in China got absorbed into Chinese culture. This assimilation of foreigners would make it difficult for the Nestorians to establish a strong following. However he does state that the Nestorians did attain some influence in China such as creating a Chinese Christian literature and theological vocabulary. Even though according to Bundy the Nestorians did not have a large impact in China, I believe that it would be difficult for any group to establish a new religion anywhere, especially in structured society like in China at this time.

Trade is a vital activity, and the Sogdians played a major role in the trans-Asian trade. The Sogdians were of Iranian heritage and occupied the region of Transoxiana. The Sogdians location enabled them to excel at trading and play an important role along the Silk Road. The Sogdians were important in terms of the transferring of ideas, goods, languages etc. which illustrates the effect trade can have on a peoples. For example the Sogdians learned a number of different languages in order to communicate with consumers along the Silk Road. This illustrates that trade forces people to learn about different cultures and improves communication. Another outcome of trade is migration. In an article by Luo Fen it states that the Sogdians eventually inhabited northwest China. Luo Feng uses Sogdian immigrant burial tombs to show the effect Chinese culture had on the Sogdians. There is still much debate on how much the Sogdians were assimilated into Chinese culture however some of their burial practices reflect a Chinese influence. For example the Sogdians adopted the practice of burying their dead in ground, and “the Chinese Sogdians also followed the Han custom of burying objects such a mingqi, and ceramic vessels that are similar to those in “Chinese” tombs.” (Luo Feng, 243) Therefore the Sogdians changed some of their customs, in this case burial customs, to Chinese customs because of where trade lead them.

The Sogdians were not the only major players along the Silk Road trade route. The Sasanians also participated in the trade along the Silk Road. In Sasanian society different professions are ranked and merchants are among the lower professions. This is interesting because I would assume being a merchant and participating in trade would be considered a worthy profession, because the merchants control goods and goods equal wealth, as well as goods were not in abundance and easy to obtain therefore you would assume a merchant would be more powerful and be a sought after profession.

Travel and Religion

After reading chapters one through four in Xuanzang: A Buddhist Pilgrim on the Silk Road, it can be concluded that travel is an important activity in terms of religion. These religious missions, that people like Xuanzang went on, had an impact on the religions they were trying to pursue. For example, as Xuanzang was traveling he encountered many kings with whom he formed relationships. Through these relationships, in this case a Buddhist monk and kings, the particular religion has a greater effect because it was supported by powerful rulers such as kings. Travel is extremely important and is a constant theme when speaking of religion. In chapter three, it states according to Xuanzang, two merchants, Trapusa and Bhallika brought Buddhism to Balkh. If not for these two merchants and their travels, who knows when Buddhism would have reached Balkh? Again, this reinforces the importance of travel in terms of religion. Buddhism is not the only religion to benefit from travel, Hinduism, Christianity, etc. have all benefited from travel, and the movement of people like Xuanzang. Travel adds and expands religions and all religions depend on it to spread that particular religion. Therefore using Xuanzang’s journey to India as an example, one can fully comprehend the importance of travel in terms of the spread of a religion and in terms of enhancing and learning more about a particular religion.

The Kushan Empire

Both articles examine art in the Kushan Empire and the influence from other cultures on the art. For example both articles mention a Hellenistic influence on Gandharan Buddhist art. Also both articles deal with the implications scholars today face when trying to retrieve information from Kushan art. In Czuma’s article it states that scholars today have trouble composing a chronological order of Kushan art during the era of Muthura and Gandhara sculpture schools because both schools flourished at the same time in different parts of the Empire. Similarly in Liu’s article it discusses that the artwork (more specifically the sculptures) does not reveal Kushan physical characteristics. When historians analyze art to learn facts about a culture it can be problematic. Art can be interpreted in many different ways and can mean different things to many different people. However art can also be very helpful to scholars as well. For example when a culture was mostly oral and hardly wrote anything down art become vital to scholars trying to decode an ancient culture.

The presence of Buddhism in the Kushan Empire was significant. Lui’s article states that there was a large amount of Buddhist art; this shows the popularity of the religion. This popularity also enhanced prestige of horses and horse riding. Horses are associated with Buddhism including many legends of early Buddhist missionaries. The popularity of horse riding also lead to changes in clothing, “women wearing hats with hanging veils along with attire that combined a tight-sleeved blouse with riding pants was a common scene on the streets of the capital at Chang’an” (Liu, 286). Therefore Buddhism influenced changes in Kushan culture. Buddhism however was not the only religion in the Kushan Empire. There were many religions present in the Kushan Empire which means that there was not one religion that all the people of the Kushan Empire believed in such as Catholicism at one point in Rome.