“The General and his Army”: Metropolitans and Locals on the Khorezmian Expedition
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Irina Arzhantseva
Abstract
While the Soviet Union continued many of the tsarist Russian policies in Central Asia, there were also some significant differences which make it difficult as well as interesting to compare Soviet archaeological expeditions in the region with “colonial archaeology”. This paper presents the case study of the Khorezmian Expedition of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR which worked in Central Asia from 1937 to 1991, much of the time under the direction of its founder, Sergej P. Tolstov. The initial, clear distinction between scholars from the centres, Moscow and Leningrad, on the one hand, and locally recruited workers and guides, on the other hand, seems to conform to a “colonial” pattern. But as time went on, the expedition became a pathway for Central Asian students into the upper ranks of Soviet archaeology, either directly by working on the expedition, or by encouragement from Tolstov to attend academic institutions in the centres. This aspect was instrumental in creating the foundations of a Central Asian school of Soviet, and ultimately post-Soviet, archaeology. Finally, cases of personal involvement by individuals from the “imperial” centres, be it by local marriage or by “going native”, helped to blur the distinctions and made the boundaries between metropolitans and locals permeable - without ever removing them entirely.
Abstract
While the Soviet Union continued many of the tsarist Russian policies in Central Asia, there were also some significant differences which make it difficult as well as interesting to compare Soviet archaeological expeditions in the region with “colonial archaeology”. This paper presents the case study of the Khorezmian Expedition of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR which worked in Central Asia from 1937 to 1991, much of the time under the direction of its founder, Sergej P. Tolstov. The initial, clear distinction between scholars from the centres, Moscow and Leningrad, on the one hand, and locally recruited workers and guides, on the other hand, seems to conform to a “colonial” pattern. But as time went on, the expedition became a pathway for Central Asian students into the upper ranks of Soviet archaeology, either directly by working on the expedition, or by encouragement from Tolstov to attend academic institutions in the centres. This aspect was instrumental in creating the foundations of a Central Asian school of Soviet, and ultimately post-Soviet, archaeology. Finally, cases of personal involvement by individuals from the “imperial” centres, be it by local marriage or by “going native”, helped to blur the distinctions and made the boundaries between metropolitans and locals permeable - without ever removing them entirely.
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Frontmatter I
- Acknowledgements V
- Contents VII
- Note on Transliteration XI
- Preface 1
- Introduction 5
-
Archaeology in the Time of Empires: Unequal Negotiations and Scientific Competition
- “Masters” Against “Natives”: Edward Daniel Clarke and the “Theft” of the Eleusinian “Goddess” 19
- Russian Archaeologists, Colonial Administrators, and the “Natives” of Turkestan: Revisiting the History of Archaeology in Central Asia 31
- The “Maîtres” of Archaeology in Eastern Turkestan: Divide et Impera 87
-
“Master” / “Native”: Are There Winners? A Micro-History of Reciprocal and Non-Linear Relations
- Subverting the “Master”–“Native” Relationship: Dragomans and Their Clients in the Fin-de-Siècle Middle East 107
- In the Service of the Colonizer: Leon Barszczewski, Polish Officer in the Tsarist Army 121
- “The General and his Army”: Metropolitans and Locals on the Khorezmian Expedition 137
-
Taming the Other’s Past: The Eurocentric Scientific Tools
- From the Emic to the Etic and Back Again: Archaeology, Orientalism, and Religion from Colonial Sri Lanka to Switzerland 177
- Legislation and the Study of the Past: The Archaeological Survey of India and Challenges of the Present 197
- Early Archaeology in a “Native State”: Khans, Officers, and Archaeologists in Swat (1895–1939), with a Digression on the 1950s 213
-
The Forging of Myths: Heroic Clichés and the (Re-)Distribution of Roles
- Archaeologists in Soviet Literature 239
- Archaeology and the Archaeologist on Screen 255
-
Reversal of Roles in Postcolonial and Neocolonial Contexts: From a Relation between “Masters” and “Subordinates” to “Partnership”?
- From Supervision to Independence in Archaeology: The Comparison of the Iranian and the Afghan Strategy 291
- The Postcolonial Rewriting of the Past in North and South Korea Following Independence (1950s–1960s) 307
- Excavating in Iran and Central Asia: Cooperation or Competition? 323
- Publishing an Archaeological Discovery astride the “North”–“South” Divide (On an Example from Central Asia) 343
- Role Reversal: Hindu “Ethno-Expertise” of Western Archaeological Materials 367
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Frontmatter I
- Acknowledgements V
- Contents VII
- Note on Transliteration XI
- Preface 1
- Introduction 5
-
Archaeology in the Time of Empires: Unequal Negotiations and Scientific Competition
- “Masters” Against “Natives”: Edward Daniel Clarke and the “Theft” of the Eleusinian “Goddess” 19
- Russian Archaeologists, Colonial Administrators, and the “Natives” of Turkestan: Revisiting the History of Archaeology in Central Asia 31
- The “Maîtres” of Archaeology in Eastern Turkestan: Divide et Impera 87
-
“Master” / “Native”: Are There Winners? A Micro-History of Reciprocal and Non-Linear Relations
- Subverting the “Master”–“Native” Relationship: Dragomans and Their Clients in the Fin-de-Siècle Middle East 107
- In the Service of the Colonizer: Leon Barszczewski, Polish Officer in the Tsarist Army 121
- “The General and his Army”: Metropolitans and Locals on the Khorezmian Expedition 137
-
Taming the Other’s Past: The Eurocentric Scientific Tools
- From the Emic to the Etic and Back Again: Archaeology, Orientalism, and Religion from Colonial Sri Lanka to Switzerland 177
- Legislation and the Study of the Past: The Archaeological Survey of India and Challenges of the Present 197
- Early Archaeology in a “Native State”: Khans, Officers, and Archaeologists in Swat (1895–1939), with a Digression on the 1950s 213
-
The Forging of Myths: Heroic Clichés and the (Re-)Distribution of Roles
- Archaeologists in Soviet Literature 239
- Archaeology and the Archaeologist on Screen 255
-
Reversal of Roles in Postcolonial and Neocolonial Contexts: From a Relation between “Masters” and “Subordinates” to “Partnership”?
- From Supervision to Independence in Archaeology: The Comparison of the Iranian and the Afghan Strategy 291
- The Postcolonial Rewriting of the Past in North and South Korea Following Independence (1950s–1960s) 307
- Excavating in Iran and Central Asia: Cooperation or Competition? 323
- Publishing an Archaeological Discovery astride the “North”–“South” Divide (On an Example from Central Asia) 343
- Role Reversal: Hindu “Ethno-Expertise” of Western Archaeological Materials 367
