The Nomadic Peoples Of Iran

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The Nomadic Peoples of Iran

Author : Richard Tapper
Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9781898592242
Total Pages : 324 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (922 download)

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Book Synopsis The Nomadic Peoples of Iran by : Richard Tapper

Download or read book The Nomadic Peoples of Iran written by Richard Tapper and published by . This book was released on 2002 with total page 324 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: With the 1978-79 Revolution in Iran, the Pahlavi dynasty fell and was replaced by the Islamic Republic. In the decades since the Revolution all sectors of Iranian society, from the middle-class villas of northern Tehran to the remotest villages and nomad camps, have undergone profound changes. For many years the country was difficult to access by outsiders. Foreign media provided images of bearded men toting guns, veiled women in the cities and the horrors of the war with Iraq, yet little was known of what was going on in the countryside. Some nomad tribes were reported to be barely surviving after suffering discrimination and reductions in numbers in the last years of the Pahlavis, whereas others were said to be experiencing something of a renaissance. This book documents the life of the nomads in Iran at the end of the twentieth century.

Frontier Nomads of Iran

Author : Richard Tapper
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
ISBN 13 : 9780521583367
Total Pages : 464 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (833 download)

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Book Synopsis Frontier Nomads of Iran by : Richard Tapper

Download or read book Frontier Nomads of Iran written by Richard Tapper and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 1997-08-28 with total page 464 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Richard Tapper's 1997 book, which is based on three decades of ethnographic fieldwork and extensive documentary research, traces the political and social history of the Shahsevan, one of the major nomadic peoples of Iran. The story is a dramatic one, recounting the mythical origins of the tribes, their unification as a confederacy, and their decline under the Pahlavi Shahs. The book is intended as a contribution to three different debates. The first concerns the riddle of Shahsevan origins, while another considers how far changes in tribal social and political formations are a function of relations with states. The third discusses how different constructions of the identity of a particular people determine their view of the past. In this way, the book promises not only to make a major contribution to the history and anthropology of the Middle East and Central Asia, but also to theoretical debates in both disciplines.

Nomadism in Iran

Author : D. T. Potts
Publisher : Oxford University Press
ISBN 13 : 0199330808
Total Pages : 640 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (993 download)

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Book Synopsis Nomadism in Iran by : D. T. Potts

Download or read book Nomadism in Iran written by D. T. Potts and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2014-03-03 with total page 640 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The classic images of Iranian nomads in circulation today and in years past suggest that Western awareness of nomadism is a phenomenon of considerable antiquity. Though nomadism has certainly been a key feature of Iranian history, it has not been in the way most modern archaeologists have envisaged it. Nomadism in Iran recasts our understanding of this "timeless" tradition. Far from constituting a natural adaptation on the Iranian Plateau, nomadism is a comparatively late introduction, which can only be understood within the context of certain political circumstances. Since the early Holocene, most, if not all, agricultural communities in Iran had kept herds of sheep and goat, but the communities themselves were sedentary: only a few of their members were required to move with the herds seasonally. Though the arrival of Iranian speaking groups, attested in written sources beginning in the time of Herodutus, began to change the demography of the plateau, it wasn't until later in the eleventh century that an influx of Turkic speaking Oghuz nomadic groups-"true" nomads of the steppe-began the modification of the demography of the Iranian Plateau that accelerated with the Mongol conquest. The massive, unprecedented violence of this invasion effected the widespread distribution of largely Turkic-speaking nomadic groups across Iran. Thus, what has been interpreted in the past as an enduring pattern of nomadic land use is, by archaeological standards, very recent. Iran's demographic profile since the eleventh century AD, and more particularly in the nineteenth and twentieth century, has been used by some scholars as a proxy for ancient social organization. Nomadism in Iran argues that this modernist perspective distorts the historical reality of the land. Assembling a wealth of material in several languages and disciplines, Nomadism in Iran will be invaluable to archaeologists, anthropologists, and historians of the Middle East and Central Asia.

Nomads in Postrevolutionary Iran

Author : Lois Beck
Publisher : Iranian Studies
ISBN 13 : 9781138099722
Total Pages : 404 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (997 download)

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Book Synopsis Nomads in Postrevolutionary Iran by : Lois Beck

Download or read book Nomads in Postrevolutionary Iran written by Lois Beck and published by Iranian Studies. This book was released on 2017-05-24 with total page 404 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Examining the rapid transition in Iran from a modernizing, westernizing, secularizing monarchy (1941-79) to a hard-line, conservative, clergy-run Islamic republic (1979-), this book focuses on the ways this process has impacted the Qashqa'i-a rural, nomadic, tribally organized, Turkish-speaking, ethnic minority of a million and a half people who are dispersed across the southern Zagros Mountains. Analysing the relationship between the tribal polity and each of the two regimes, the book goes on to explain the resilience of the people's tribal organizations, kinship networks, and politicized ethnolinguistic identities to demonstrate how these structures and ideologies offered the Qashqa'i a way to confront the pressures emanating from the two central governments. Existing scholarly works on politics in Iran rarely consider Iranian society outside the capital of Tehran and beyond the reach of the details of national politics. Local-level studies on Iran-accounts of the ways people actually lived-are now rare, especially after the revolution. Based on long-term anthropological research, Nomads in Postrevolutionary Iran provides a unique insight into how national-level issues relate to the local level and will be of interest to scholars and researchers in Anthropolgy, Iranian Studies and Middle Eastern Studies.

Tribes and Empire on the Margins of Nineteenth-Century Iran

Author : Arash Khazeni
Publisher : University of Washington Press
ISBN 13 : 0295800755
Total Pages : 304 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (958 download)

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Book Synopsis Tribes and Empire on the Margins of Nineteenth-Century Iran by : Arash Khazeni

Download or read book Tribes and Empire on the Margins of Nineteenth-Century Iran written by Arash Khazeni and published by University of Washington Press. This book was released on 2011-06-01 with total page 304 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Tribes and Empire on the Margins of Nineteenth-Century Iran traces the history of the Bakhtiyari tribal confederacy of the Zagros Mountains through momentous times that saw the opening of their territory to the outside world. As the Qajar dynasty sought to integrate the peoples on its margins into the state, the British Empire made commercial inroads into the once inaccessible mountains on the frontier between Iran and Iraq. The distance between the state and the tribes was narrowed through imperial projects that included the building of a road through the mountains, the gathering of geographical and ethnographic information, and the exploration for oil, which culminated during the Iranian Constitutional Revolution. These modern projects assimilated autonomous pastoral nomadic tribes on the peripheries of Qajar Iran into a wider imperial territory and the world economy. Tribal subjects did not remain passive amidst these changes in environment and society, however, and projects of empire in the hinterlands of Iran were always mediated through encounters, accommodation, and engagement with the tribes. In contrast to the range of literature on the urban classes and political center in Qajar Iran, Arash Khazeni adopts a view from the Bakhtiyari tents on the periphery. Drawing upon Persian chronicles, tribal histories, and archival sources from London, Tehran, and Isfahan, this book opens new ground by approaching nineteenth-century Iran from its edge and placing the tribal periphery at the heart of a tale about empire and assimilation in the modern Middle East.

Tribeswomen of Iran

Author : Julia Huang
Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN 13 : 0857735632
Total Pages : 330 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (577 download)

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Book Synopsis Tribeswomen of Iran by : Julia Huang

Download or read book Tribeswomen of Iran written by Julia Huang and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2014-09-19 with total page 330 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Since the revolution in 1979, the Islamic Republic of Iran has permitted very few Western scholars to conduct research in the country. Foreign travellers and media persons have limited access and much Iranian scholarship tends to focus on the realms of politics and government. Here Julia Huang provides a remarkable account of local tribal Iranian life, offering a rare glimpse into the daily rhythms and social richness beyond the capital city of Tehran. The Qashqa'i are a confederation of nomadic tribes, of which the Qermezi ('Red Ones') are one, migrating semiannually between winter pastures near the Persian Gulf and summer pastures southwest of the city of Isfahan. Huang has visited and traveled with the Qermezi for extended periods across fourteen years. Drawing on her experiences, participation and observation, she offers an intimate window onto their life. She focuses on a small group of women spanning four generations who are part of a large extended family, and describes their ways of life, their activities and interactions, and their distinctive sociocultural and ecological setting. Like other nomadic peoples around the world, the Qashqa'i increasingly face pressures that threaten their livelihoods, lifestyles and culture. Huang shows us how women negotiate compromises between customary tribal values and external influences, and sketches their efforts to resist the influences of an Islamizing, modernizing and centralizing government. With shadows and resonances that rebound across the stories of these women, Huang is able to present multiple perspectives on events and contentious issues, for instance the politicized issue of women's state-mandated modest dress. Huang also explains how the Turkic-speaking Qashqa'i relate to the wider Iranian society and the Islamic Republic of Iran, adapting to a rapidly changing world while retaining tribal values and a distinctive ethnolinguistic identity as one of Iran's national minorities. In describing life at the local level in Iran, Huang depicts a community largely beyond the scope and reach of foreign travellers and the Western media. With rich ethnographic description and analysis, intimate portraits of the private lives and spaces of women and children, and diverse perspectives, this engagingly written account documents a disappearing way of life. 'Tribeswomen of Iran' is essential reading for all those interested in Iran, the Middle East, anthropology, nomadism and gender.

Tribal Pastoralists in Transition

Author : Frank Hole
Publisher : University of Michigan Press
ISBN 13 : 0915703998
Total Pages : 403 pages
Book Rating : 4.9/5 (157 download)

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Book Synopsis Tribal Pastoralists in Transition by : Frank Hole

Download or read book Tribal Pastoralists in Transition written by Frank Hole and published by University of Michigan Press. This book was released on 2021-04-30 with total page 403 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the spring of 1973, the Baharvand tribe from the Luristan province of central western Iran prepared to migrate from their winter pastures to their summer camp in the mountains. Seasonal migration in spring and fall had been their way of life for as long as anyone in the camp could remember. They moved their camp and their animals—sheep, goats, horses, donkeys, and chickens—in order to find green pastures and suitable temperatures. That year, one migrating family in the tribe allowed an outsider to make the trip with them. Anthropology professor Frank Hole, accompanied by his graduate student, Sekandar Amanolahi-Baharvand, traveled with the family of Morad Khan as they migrated into the mountains. In this volume, Hole describes the journey, the modern and prehistoric sites along the way, and the people he traveled with. It is a portrait of people in transition—even as the family follows the ancient migration path, there are signs of economic and social change everywhere. Illustrated. Supplementary videos (on the migration, weaving, harvesting, and the bazaars) can be found on Fulcrum (fulcrum.org/UMMAA).

Nomads in the Middle East

Author : Beatrice Forbes Manz
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
ISBN 13 : 1009213385
Total Pages : 545 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (92 download)

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Book Synopsis Nomads in the Middle East by : Beatrice Forbes Manz

Download or read book Nomads in the Middle East written by Beatrice Forbes Manz and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2021-12-02 with total page 545 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A history of pastoral nomads in the Islamic Middle East from the rise of Islam, through the middle periods when Mongols and Turks ruled most of the region, to the decline of nomadism in the twentieth century. Offering a vivid insight into the impact of nomads on the politics, culture, and ideology of the region, Beatrice Forbes Manz examines and challenges existing perceptions of these nomads, including the popular cyclical model of nomad-settled interaction developed by Ibn Khaldun. Looking at both the Arab Bedouin and the nomads from the Eurasian steppe, Manz demonstrates the significance of Bedouin and Turco-Mongolian contributions to cultural production and political ideology in the Middle East, and shows the central role played by pastoral nomads in war, trade, and state-building throughout history. Nomads provided horses and soldiers for war, the livestock and guidance which made long-distance trade possible, and animal products to provision the region's growing cities.

Iran's Diverse Peoples

Author : Massoume Price
Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN 13 : 1576079945
Total Pages : 393 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (76 download)

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Book Synopsis Iran's Diverse Peoples by : Massoume Price

Download or read book Iran's Diverse Peoples written by Massoume Price and published by Bloomsbury Publishing USA. This book was released on 2005-07-26 with total page 393 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Spanning a 5,000-year period, this is the first work to document the origins, evolution, and current status of all major ethnic groups in Iran. From ancient civilizations of 3000 B.C. to the election of President Mohammad Khatami five millennia later, Iran's history is a rich palette of conquests, invasions, occupations, and revolutions. Iran's Diverse Peoples: A Reference Sourcebook documents for the first time the major ethnic groups that emerged during each era and traces their evolution to the present day. Written by a social anthropologist educated in Iran and England, this analysis presents vital statistics on the Persians, Kurds, Turks, Lurs, Assyrians, Arabs, and other pastoral and urban groups of Iran, highlighting their differing languages, religions, cultural practices, political agendas, and current problems. The settling of nomadic tribes, the unveiling of women, the Islamic Revolution, OPEC, Soviet intervention, Kurdish oppression—these and other contentious topics are all examined with respect to their impact on Iran's ethnic entities.

Weavings of Nomads in Iran

Author : Fred Mushkat
Publisher : Artmedia (Acc)
ISBN 13 : 9781898113805
Total Pages : 420 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (138 download)

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Book Synopsis Weavings of Nomads in Iran by : Fred Mushkat

Download or read book Weavings of Nomads in Iran written by Fred Mushkat and published by Artmedia (Acc). This book was released on 2020-08-30 with total page 420 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: There is a rich tradition of hand-woven bands made by the nomadic pastoralists of Iran. They have a large and detailed design vocabulary, and were executed using weaving skills that were not exceeded by any other weaving tradition. No study of nomadic life and weavings in Iran is complete without them. Among Qashqa'i tribal weavers in particular, the warp-faced bands used to attach loads to pack animals were a key symbol of their nomadic life. These bands carry a large repository of motifs that may be a source of archaic design elements. Bands illustrate a connection between and among groups of nomadic pastoralists, as great distances may have separated their ancestors for hundreds of years. Although the overwhelming majority of weavers were illiterate, they possessed a different form of literacy in which they were capable of transferring an image into a woven structure. This is the first book devoted exclusively to these weavings. AUTHORS: Dr Fred Mushkat has been collecting and diligently studying the warp-faced woven bands of Iran since the late 1980s. His work is supplemented by detailed commentary co-written by the socio-cultural anthropologist Professor Lois Beck of Washington University in St. Louis, (the world expert on the Qashqa'i nomads in Southwestern Iran), and Naheed Dareshuri, a Qashqa'i nomadic pastoralist currently living in the United States. The book also includes a contribution by Professor Peter Alford Andrews, the world's foremost authority on the architecture and use of nomadic tents of Eurasia. SELLING POINTS: * This is the first book devoted exclusively to the hand-woven bands made by the nomadic peoples of Iran * The publication features many previously unpublished weavings of great art-historical and anthropological importance 200 colour and 10 b/w images

Nomads of Luristan

Author : Inge Demant Mortensen
Publisher : Thames & Hudson
ISBN 13 : 9780500015728
Total Pages : 413 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (157 download)

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Book Synopsis Nomads of Luristan by : Inge Demant Mortensen

Download or read book Nomads of Luristan written by Inge Demant Mortensen and published by Thames & Hudson. This book was released on 1993 with total page 413 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Lur nomads live Luristan in the west of modern Iran. Two Danish scholars, Carl Gunnar Feilberg and Lennart Edelberg, visited this region in 1935 and 1964 respectively, and assembled two valuable ethnographic collections which provide a remarkable perspective over time on the historical transformation of Lur nomadism.

The Persians

Author : Geoffrey Parker
Publisher : Reaktion Books
ISBN 13 : 1780236980
Total Pages : 224 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (82 download)

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Book Synopsis The Persians by : Geoffrey Parker

Download or read book The Persians written by Geoffrey Parker and published by Reaktion Books. This book was released on 2016-11-15 with total page 224 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: During the first and second millennia BCE a swathe of nomadic peoples migrated outward from Central Asia into the Eurasian periphery. One group of these people would find themselves encamped in an unpromising, arid region just south of the Caspian Sea. From these modest and uncertain beginnings, they would go on to form one of the most powerful empires in history: the Persian Empire. In this book, Geoffrey and Brenda Parker tell the captivating story of this ancient civilization and its enduring legacy to the world. The authors examine the unique features of Persian life and trace their influence throughout the centuries. They examine the environmental difficulties the early Persians encountered and how, in overcoming them, they were able to develop a unique culture that would culminate in the massive, first empire, the Achaemenid Empire. Extending their influence into the maritime west, they fought the Greeks for mastery of the eastern Mediterranean—one of the most significant geopolitical contests of the ancient world. And the authors paint vivid portraits of Persian cities and their spectacular achievements: intricate and far-reaching roadways, an astonishing irrigation system that created desert paradises, and, above all, an extraordinary reflection of the diverse peoples that inhabited them. Informed and original, this is a history of an incomparable culture whose influence can still be seen, millennia later, in modern-day Iran and the wider Middle East.

ReOrienting the Sasanians

Author : Khodadad Rezakhani
Publisher : Edinburgh University Press
ISBN 13 : 1474400302
Total Pages : 256 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (744 download)

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Book Synopsis ReOrienting the Sasanians by : Khodadad Rezakhani

Download or read book ReOrienting the Sasanians written by Khodadad Rezakhani and published by Edinburgh University Press. This book was released on 2017-03-15 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A narrative history of Central Asia after the Greek dynasties and before IslamCentral Asia is commonly imagined as the marginal land on the periphery of Chinese and Middle Eastern civilisations. At best, it is understood as a series of disconnected areas that served as stop-overs along the Silk Road. However, in the mediaeval period, this region rose to prominence and importance as one of the centres of Persian-Islamic culture, from the Seljuks to the Mongols and Timur. Khodadad Rezakhani tells the back story of this rise to prominence, the story of the famed Kushans and mysterious aAsian Huns, and their role in shaping both the Sasanian Empire and the rest of the Middle East.Contextualises Persian history in relation to the history of Central Asia Extends the concept of late antiquity further east than is usually done Surveys the history of Iran and Central Asia between 200 and 800 bc and contextualises the rise of Islam in both regions "e;

Early Arsakid Parthia (ca. 250-165 B.C.)

Author : Marek Jan Olbrycht
Publisher : BRILL
ISBN 13 : 9004460764
Total Pages : 395 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (44 download)

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Book Synopsis Early Arsakid Parthia (ca. 250-165 B.C.) by : Marek Jan Olbrycht

Download or read book Early Arsakid Parthia (ca. 250-165 B.C.) written by Marek Jan Olbrycht and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2021-05-31 with total page 395 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In Early Arsakid Parthia (ca. 250-165 B.C.): At the Crossroads of Iranian, Hellenistic, and Central Asian History, Marek Jan Olbrycht depicts the early Arsakid Parthian state in northeastern Iran and Turkmenistan within the broader historical context of Western and Central Asia in the post-Achaemenid/Hellenistic period.

Nomad

Author : Lois Beck
Publisher : Univ of California Press
ISBN 13 : 9780520074958
Total Pages : 510 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (749 download)

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Book Synopsis Nomad by : Lois Beck

Download or read book Nomad written by Lois Beck and published by Univ of California Press. This book was released on 1991-12-19 with total page 510 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: During 1970 to 1971, Borzu and his people were faced with many difficulties. When the expected winter rains did not fall, pastures and crops shriveled. Unable to sell their starving livestock for any profit, Borzu's people saw their debts to urban merchants and moneylenders increase. At the same time, Iran exercised more bureaucratic control over the Qashqa'i by applying new policies over migratory schedules and the allocation of scarce pastures, and by introducing non-Qashqa'i agriculturalists and livestock investors as legitimate land users. All these measures threatened the nomad's way of life and eventually undermined the role of headmen such as Borzu. Lois Beck details the vicissitudes endured by Borzu's people and the strategies he devised to cope with them.

Nomadic Empires

Author : Gerard Chaliand
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1351502921
Total Pages : 121 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (515 download)

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Book Synopsis Nomadic Empires by : Gerard Chaliand

Download or read book Nomadic Empires written by Gerard Chaliand and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2017-12-02 with total page 121 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Nomadic Empires sheds new light on 2,000 years of military history and geopolitics. The Mongol Empire of Genghis-Khan and his heirs, as is well known, was the greatest empire in world history. For 2,000 from the fifth century b.c. to the fifteenth century a.d., the steppe areas of Asia, from the borders of Manchuria to the Black Sea, were a ""zone of turbulence,"" threatening settled peoples from China to Russia and Hungary, including Iran, India, the Byzantine empire, and even Syria. It was a true world stage that was affected by these destructive nomads.This cogent, well-written volume examines these nomadic people, variously called Indo-Europeans, Turkic peoples, or Mongols. They did not belong to a sole nation or language, but shared a strategic culture born in the steppes: a highly mobile cavalry which did not require sophisticated logistics, and an indirect mode of combat based on surprise, mobility, and harassment. They used bows and arrows and, when they were united under the authority of a strong leader, were able to become a deadly threat to their sedentary neighbors.Chaliand addresses the subject from four perspectives. First, he examines the early nomadic populations of Eurasia, and the impact of these nomads and their complex relationships with settled peoples. Then he describes military fronts of the Altaic Nomads, detailing events from the fourth century b.c. through the twelfth century a.d., from the early Chinese front to the Indo-Iranian front, the Byzantine front, and the Russian front. Next he covers the undertakings of the great nomad conquerors that brought about the Ottoman Empire. And finally, he describes what he calls ""the revenge of the sedentary peoples, exploring Russia and China in the aftermath of the Mongols. The volume includes a chronology and an annotated bibliography. Now in paperback, this cogent, well-written volume examines these nomadic people, variously called Indo-Europeans, Turkic peoples, or "

Nomads as Agents of Cultural Change

Author : Reuven Amitai
Publisher : University of Hawaii Press
ISBN 13 : 082484789X
Total Pages : 362 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (248 download)

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Book Synopsis Nomads as Agents of Cultural Change by : Reuven Amitai

Download or read book Nomads as Agents of Cultural Change written by Reuven Amitai and published by University of Hawaii Press. This book was released on 2014-12-31 with total page 362 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Since the first millennium BCE, nomads of the Eurasian steppe have played a key role in world history and the development of adjacent sedentary regions, especially China, India, the Middle East, and Eastern and Central Europe. Although their more settled neighbors often saw them as an ongoing threat and imminent danger—“barbarians,” in fact—their impact on sedentary cultures was far more complex than the raiding, pillaging, and devastation with which they have long been associated in the popular imagination. The nomads were also facilitators and catalysts of social, demographic, economic, and cultural change, and nomadic culture had a significant influence on that of sedentary Eurasian civilizations, especially in cases when the nomads conquered and ruled over them. Not simply passive conveyors of ideas, beliefs, technologies, and physical artifacts, nomads were frequently active contributors to the process of cultural exchange and change. Their active choices and initiatives helped set the cultural and intellectual agenda of the lands they ruled and beyond. This volume brings together a distinguished group of scholars from different disciplines and cultural specializations to explore how nomads played the role of “agents of cultural change.” The beginning chapters examine this phenomenon in both east and west Asia in ancient and early medieval times, while the bulk of the book is devoted to the far flung Mongol empire of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. This comparative approach, encompassing both a lengthy time span and a vast region, enables a clearer understanding of the key role that Eurasian pastoral nomads played in the history of the Old World. It conveys a sense of the complex and engaging cultural dynamic that existed between nomads and their agricultural and urban neighbors, and highlights the non-military impact of nomadic culture on Eurasian history. Nomads as Agents of Cultural Change illuminates and complicates nomadic roles as active promoters of cultural exchange within a vast and varied region. It makes available important original scholarship on the new turn in the study of the Mongol empire and on relations between the nomadic and sedentary worlds.