Blog # 10

Journal # 10

The ethics of collecting and preserving cultural property

For this journal, since we had to read 3 different pieces, I decided to put down all the important notes I learned after reading each article. So here is the summary of what I found out when I did (my homework) this week:

·      UNESCO made several decrees about race, starting in 1950 after WWll

·      Back then, the idea behind race held a genetic ideology and the mean of UNESCO was to change the general believe

·      The result was the book of race concept, later it produced a Proposal on the Biological Aspect of Race

·      One of the chief achievements of UNESCO was the General Conference of the Convention Against discrimination in Education

·      Over time, the definition for human being changed and it became a race-less definition, we are all humans regardless of what race we belong to.

·      One just has to look at the close to 10 million dollars spent on the protection and revivification of culturally significant sites in Afghanistan rather than the spending that money on infrastructure projects that will go much further to enrich the lives of the Afghanis

·      The world and Afghanistan is better off now that they are not under the finger of Taliban just as any country is better off who are allowed to freely choose among a variety officials

·      UNESCO’s early activities in the field of culture included, for example, the Nubia Campaign, launched in 1960

·      UNESCO implements its activities through the five programme areas of Education, Natural Sciences, Social and Human Sciences, Culture, and Communication and Information.

·      CAME) began meetings in London which continued between 16 November 1942 to 5 December 1945. On 30 October 1943, the necessity for an international organization was expressed in the Moscow Declaration, agreed upon by China, the United Kingdom, the United States of America and the USSR

Blog # 10

Blog # 9

 The article by Hirstchkind and Mahmood depicts two points: The crucial role the United States had played in creating the miserable conditions under which Afghan women were living; and secondly, a whole set of questionable assumptions, anxieties, and prejudices embedded in the notion of Islamic fundamentalism.

Another important point that was mentioned in the article was the fact that the Feminist Majority made no attempts to join the calls issued by a number of humanitarians Organizations--including the Afghan Women's Mission-to halt the bombing so that food might have been transported to the Afghans before winter set in, which played an imperative role in inequality between men and women.

Attitudes about the proper place of public religious morality in modern Islamic societies, and in particular how such morality is seen to shape and constrain women's behavior. The Taliban in many ways have become a potent symbol of all that liberal public opinion regards as grievously wrong with Islamic societies these days, proof of the intense misogyny long ascribed to Islam, and most emphatically to those movements within Islam referred to as fundamentalist.

That from the rubble left behind by the game of super power politics played out on Afghan bodies and communities, we can only identify the misogynist machinations of the Islamic fundamentalist

testifies to the power this image bears, and the force it exerts on our political imagination.

There was a statement in the article that really shock me and that was: “A Muslim woman can only be one  of two things, either uncovered, and therefore liberated, or veiled, and thus still, to some degree, subordinate”. This says so much about how the society is structured in a patriarchal way that it might seem women have options but deep down they don’t have an option.

Blog # 7

The three scholar pieces, Missiological Reflections on Nestorian Christianity in China during the Tang Dynasty by David Bundy, Daily Life in the Capital by Valerie Hansen, and Golden Peaches of Samarkand by Edward Schafer, although different, they all mention the influence of “others” on the Chinese culture, specifically, on the city of Chang’an in particular, during the Tang period.   

In order to understand each piece, I will break down each article and then draw a common conclusion for all.

The first article, Daily life in the Capital, focuses on the commercial as well as cultural exchanges that occurred in Chang’an, a major city in the Tang dynasty. At first the author explains the layout of the city, and then discuss the 2 major features of the city. This article as opposed to Bundy’s is more personal and gives to the reader a sense of what it was actually like living in Chang’an at the time.

The second article deals with the existence of Nestorian Christians in Tang China. It relied deeply on the teachings of its monks and Nestorian Christian life centered on the monasteries’ activities. The Nestorian Christians in China had accomplished much, however they failed to have a very profound impact in China and not much of a following compared to Buddhism and Manichaeism. The Nestorians left Mesopotamia and travelled East most likely because of being separated by the growing Islamic existence, which sidelined the other pre-existing traditions in the region.

The third article, Golden Peaches of Samarkand focuses on all the foreign contact experienced by the Chinese in the city of Chang’an during the Tang period through mainly commercial trade. The foreign contact ranges from the Tang Chinese’s trade with the Malayan Indians to Persians to the Japanese.  The author of this article mainly details the attitude of the Chinese faced by foreigners entering China, either by land or by sea. 

Blog # 6

Based on Sarah E. Fraser’s essay on “the Artist’s sketches and techniques of copying”, it is a remarkable piece into the pre-modern artistic practices.

The first type of drawing employed that she covers is preparatory sketches which are characterized by their absent anatomical detail and physical form.

The second type utilizes leap, which is a very smart way of duplicating a single image on multiple.

The Third type of drawing is a sketch that was done in preparation for paintings to be completed on silk.

The fourth type was utilized in religious practices and mandalas. The last type utilized was a practice sketch.

Overall, the cave sites at Dunhuang, based on Fraser’s reading, seem to have been a rich artistic community dedicated to the visual maintenance religious themes.

They were so great that Fraser claims that the artists at Dunhuang were commissioned and paid (via food or money) by local rulers and the Imperial army.

I found this reading interesting and mentioned the main points I captured.

Blog # 5

Blog # 5:

I started my journey of the Silk Road with very minimal information and now I know much more about the Silk Road and so the mystery is being unveiled.  This week I found that the Sogdians were the inhabitants of fertile valleys surrounded by deserts, the most important of which was the Zeravshan valley, in today’s Uzbekistan and Tajikistan.

For this blog, since I’ve read many other scholarly pieces, I would prefer to write important notes in point form and they are as fallow: 

·       The Sogdians were people of Iranian origin, they were important in the commerce of the Silk Road between the fourth and ninth centuries CE. from their home in the region near today's Samarkand in Central Asia

·          Among the most important documents of Sogdian history are five nearly complete letters, discovered in 1907 by the famous British archaeologist Aurel Stein in a Chinese watch tower just west of the Jade Gate, a fortified outpost guarding the western approaches to the administrative and cultural center of Dunhuang (at the western end of today's Gansu Province).

·             Stein's discovery was some 90 km. west of Dunhuang and 550 km. East of Lou-lan, another important outpost on the southern branch of the silk route, which skirted the Taklamakan Desert.

·             It seems likely that the letters were confiscated by a Chinese garrison at a time when Chinese control this far west was being threatened. While there has been considerable controversy over the dating of the letters, the most persuasive arguments

·              While a whole archive of Sogdian documents from several centuries later has been discovered in Central Asia, the Sogdian ancient letters are the earliest substantial examples of Sogdian writing and thus provide extremely important information about the early history of the Sogdian diaspora along the eastern end of the silk route.

·       The letters include the names of several products--silver, linen and a kind of unprocessed cloth, muskUnfortunately the meaning of some terms for other products is not known. 

·              This week’s reading was really interesting especially, now that I read this amazing stuff as evidence instead of just stories really amused me. 

Blog # 4

As the mystery of Silk Road unfolds itself for me, I find myself wanting to write about my travel experiences. I am constantly being amused by the rich and deep histories of the Silk Road, and the role of art in history's preservation. I have always been an art lover and so recovering ancient pieces have truly amused me. On the article by Tansen Sen, there are some highlights that are worth mentioning and those are:

       By examining a series of Tang (618-907) missions to Middle India in the seventh century one can appreciate the multifaceted, complex, and unique nature of China's diplomatic contacts with India. At the same time, the study highlights the significant contribution of individuals to premodern Sino-Indian relations.

      

       Sen’s study focuses on the motives for sending Tang diplomats to India; it not only exposes Emperor Taizong's (r. 626-649) personal interest in Indian longevity doctors late in his life, but also provides a new perspective on to South Asia.

       He then explains the personal and out-worldly objectives of emperors, Buddhist monks, and laymen. These "human elements" of Sino-Indian intercourse, including the transmission of Buddhism, have often been overlooked and, according to Erik Zrcher, deserve due attention.

       Tang’s missions to Middle India demonstrate the Buddhist influence on, and involvement in, China's diplomatic relations with India. The examination of the Tang embassies also seems to indicate that China's spiritual interest in India went beyond Buddhism. The persisting imperial demand for Brahman longevity doctors and drugs, discussed in his paper, is proof of such extended spiritual fascination. It is perhaps right to conclude, therefore, that India occupied a special place in the Chinese world order, which not only deserves due attention, but also needs further in-depth examination.

       The examination of the Tang embassies also seems to indicate that China's spiritual interest in India went beyond Buddhism. The persisting imperial demand for Brahman longevity doctors and drugs, discussed in this paper, is proof of such extended spiritual fascination. It is perhaps right to conclude, therefore, that India occupied a special

place in the Chinese world order, which not only deserves due attention, but also needs further in-depth examination.