A Cumulative Han Culture

In the field of Ancient China studies, scholars have often turned to the more recent past and its many textual sources, to aid them in their efforts of illuminating the deeper past. What has allowed this ‘free movement through time’ is the notion that Chinese civilization is monolithic and unchanging: a cumulative culture that adds to its solid core. The issue of continuity vs. change is certainly not unique to Chinese scholarship, and ways in which scholars choose to reconcile long term regional developments, historical projections, and archaeological data in their studies vary widely.

This talk calls for the continued reevaluation of the ways in which we approach the past by focusing on the tension between traditional narratives of a unified Han center and the existence of regional cultures during the Western Zhou period (1046-771). Because Confucius and his followers considered this period as the golden age of civilization, scholars have traditionally paid little attention to existing ethnic and cultural diversity and created the illusion that Chinese culture, in Han style, already existed at this early date. The traditional narrative – one that focuses on the formation of the later unified Chinese Empire and civilization – still views the Zhou as those who, through military expansion and conquest, successfully Sinicized and acculturated the peoples that would make up the Chinese world.

Through the investigation of archaeological remains – ritual bronze vessels, mortuary practices and foodways – this talk will highlight the complex relationship between the Zhou and the people they encountered. The speaker’s research finds that the Zhou expansion did not result in the homogenization of the ancient cultural landscape, but instead that the Zhou influence had unequal regional results: from acceptance to rejection and reformulation to suit local traditions.

Yitzchak Jaffe is a Visiting Assistant Professor at the Institute for the Study of the Ancient World at NYU. He received his PhD in Anthropology from Harvard University (2016) and has obtained a BA (2006) and MA (2009) from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Departments of Archaeology and East Asian Studies. As an anthropological archaeologist who studies the development of complex societies in Ancient China, his research investigates interaction among different social groups and the ways in which culture contact creates and shapes social identities. His work draws inspiration from contemporary scholarship on culture contact, colonialism and globalization and how these engender new food-ways, mortuary practices and other social practices.

Admission to lecture closes 10 minutes after scheduled start time.  

Reception to follow. 

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