Anthropology and Historiography:

مرکز و کتابخانه مطالعات اسلامی به زبان های اروپایی

منو

" Anthropology and Historiography: "
Feng Qu

Document Type	:	AL
Record Number	:	1079240
Doc. No	:	LA122869
Call No	:	‭10.1163/15685276-12341478‬
Language of Document	:	English
Main Entry	:	Feng Qu
Title & Author	:	Anthropology and Historiography: [Article] : A Deconstructive Analysis of K. C. Chang’s Shamanic Approach in Chinese Archaeology\ Feng Qu
Publication Statement	:	Leiden: Brill
Title of Periodical	:	Numen
Date	:	2017
Volume/ Issue Number	:	64/5-6
Page No	:	497–544
Abstract	:	The hypothesis of ancient Chinese shamanism popularized by K. C. Chang in the 1980s has long been one of the central problems in the study of Chinese archaeology. By examining the structures that constitute Chang’s shamanic framework, this article argues that the problem centers around two major issues. The first is that Chang follows a tradition in Chinese academic historiography of using late historical texts to interpret Neolithic and Bronze Age materials. The second is that, in order to explore the dynamics of the formation of Chinese civilization, he employs Western theories in his construction of the history of shamanism. This article discusses the problems associated with using textual materials for interpretations of archaeological finds. It also discusses “substratum theory,” the way in which it influenced Chang’s understanding of shamanic civilization, and the manner in which Western anthropological theory was incorporated into Chang’s historiographical model. Accordingly, the author concludes that this shamanism problem in Chinese archaeology actually stems from a mixture of the Chinese historiographical tradition and Western anthropological theories, which together make Chang’s writing develop a meta-narrative that leads directly to two characteristics: generalization and polymorphism.
Descriptor	:	Chinese archaeology
Descriptor	:	Comparative Religion Religious Studies
Descriptor	:	General
Descriptor	:	historiography
Descriptor	:	History of Religion
Descriptor	:	K. C. Chang
Descriptor	:	Religion Society
Descriptor	:	Religion in Antiquity
Descriptor	:	Religious Studies
Descriptor	:	shamanism
Descriptor	:	Social Sciences
Location & Call number	:	‭10.1163/15685276-12341478‬