RICERCA ITALIANA     

Cities of the Orient from antiquity to the present day: thought, culture, society

Università "Ca' Foscari" di Venezia

Abstract

This research program is concerned with the concept of ‘oriental city,' i. e. those urban agglomerations that have always been perceived as belonging to the ‘Orient'. Edward Said (See, Said, Edward W. Orientalism. 1st ed. New York: Pantheon Books, 1978) has shown that cultural-geographical entities such as the ‘Orient' are not inert facts of nature but rather should be grasped as historically specific discursive constructions having a particular history and tradition. Thus, the ‘Orient' has been constituted by imagery and vocabulary giving it a determined reality and presence within Western culture. The research project deconstructs the image of the ‘oriental city' offered by Western culture, while concentrating on the reality of some Asian and Egyptian urban centers seen through historical, artistic, literary, and linguistic evidence.
The final goal of the research project is to bring to light as many elements as possible that have, over the centuries, contributed to the development of the concept of the "oriental city," pointing out in each case the differences between the historical reality and the orientalizing vision. <<<

Principal Investigator

Gian Carlo CALZA Università "Cà Foscari" di VENEZIA

Research Objectives

This reaserch program is concerned with the concept of ‘oriental city,' i. e. those urban agglomerations that have always been perceived as belonging to the ‘Orient'. The research project deconstructs the image of the ‘oriental city' offered by Western culture, while concentrating on the reality of some Asian and Egyptian urban centers seen through historical, artistic, literary, and linguistic evidence. In order to analyze this topic, the Research Units will investigate three main areas: 1) literary and historical sources; 2) the visual arts; 3) linguistic phenomena.
The short-term objective of the project is to evaluate and to analyze the development of the great urban centers in the geographical areas under consideration from antiquity to the present day through an identification of those elements contributing to a thorough understanding of the changes in the thought, culture and society of each area. Archeological and iconographical sources relating to the urban centers under examination will therefore be catalogued and literary texts relating to this question will be collected. In the first year of the project, the initial results will be published on web pages with easily downloaded texts. (The web sites are already in operation and have the address: http://www.sslmit.units.it/crevatin/franco_crevatin_homepage.htm and http://venus.unive.it/dsao) They will also be published in the scholarly journal Asiatica Venetiana, (http://venus.unive.it/dsao//webpages/av_home.html) directed by one of the members of the research team from Venice (See Annali di Ca' Foscari).
The final goal of the research project is to bring to light as many elements as possible that have, over the centuries, contributed to the development of the concept of the "oriental city," pointing out in each case the differences between the historical reality and the orientalizing vision. The final results, in the form of a database of original texts and images, will be made available on the above- mentioned web sites. In addition, a printed volume of scholarly articles and an anthology of original literary and scientific texts will be published. <<<

Timescale

24 months

National and international background

Edward Said has shown that cultural-geographical entities such as the ‘Orient' are not inert facts of nature but rather should be grasped as historically specific discursive constructions having a particular history and tradition. Thus, the ‘Orient' has been constituted by imagery and vocabulary giving it a determined reality and presence within Western culture. This reaserch program is concerned with the concept of ‘oriental city,' i. e. those urban agglomerations that have always been preceived as belonging to the ‘Orient'. The research project deconstructs the image of the ‘oriental city' offered by Western culture, while concentrating on the reality of some Asian and Egyptian urban centers seen through historical, artistic, literary, and linguistic evidence.
Through the changes linked to the urban development of Hetu Ala, the first capital of the arising Manchu empire, and its transformation from a simple jurchen "tribal residence" (first years of the XVIIth century) till its present shape as an "open-air-museum", it becomes possible to analyze the recent architectonic reconstruction "in Chinese stile" of Hetu Ala, which is based on wrong historical guidelines, but has been carried out in order to create a tourist attraction connected with the economical development of this area.
From the image of Beijing in the Chinese literature of the last decades, the great changes that have been taking place in Chinese society since the foundation of the People's Republic must be read in the context of the production of literary works pertaining to various typologies of fictional literature, ranging from fiction to the literature of reportage, and emerging with still greater evidence in the new cinematography and in the scenarios of soap-operas.
Bureaucracy has always been the necessary interface between state and territory, that is, between the central authority and those governed by it. Since a state usually presupposes urbanization, the question arises concerning the nature of the interaction between government officials and the city they governed, as well as the hierarchy of the different cities. The bureaucracy system of the Chinese empire, with its army of Mandarins, is unique among world cultures. A number of classic studies have long identified the importance of this aspect of Chinese society. Other authors have analysed the bureaucratic system in its various aspects or at specific historical times: these include Robert des Rotours's study/translation "Traité des fonctionnaires et traité de l'armée traduits de la nouvelle histoire des T'ang" (chap. XLVI-L, Leyden, Brill, 1947) for the Tang era, and more recently, Charles O. Hucker's detailed description of the various government ranks throughout China's imperial history ("A dictionary of official titles in Imperial China", Stanford, Calif, Stanford University Press, 1985). The Mandarins were a source of culture and ideology, devoted to their role of administrators of the state; however, they were also individuals who often had contradictory feelings towards the dynasty, their role and the city, whether it being the capital, the provincial capital or their hometown. To the young scholars participating in the Imperial examinations, the city was the coveted destination where their endeavours would be repaid with praise and wealth; simultaneously though, the sources show a strong urge on the part of the Mandarin to leave the capital and return to their hometown, or retire to a cultural hermitage. From a historic and cultural point of view Chang'an, the capital of the Tang dynasty, is especially important in this respect. In the VIII century Chang'an was the largest city in the world, a cosmopolitan centre with a population of one million and a model for other East Asian capitals, including Nara (Japan) and Kyongju, the capital of the Silla kingdom in KoreaVarious aspects of the life of Mandarins have been the object of detailed study at different historical moments both from a political and an intellectual/literary point of view, with particular reference to their philosophical and poetic production. However, research was restricted to the most prominent personalities, and aspects such as their personal dynamics, material culture, relationship with the city and its internal organisation, and the city's ideal organisation were mostly neglected.
The development of the urban centers between the end of the sengoku jidai and the beginning of the Tokugawa period, marks the starting point in Japan of a new era of peace which facilitates the making and the enlarging of towns more and more complex and articulate, based on commerce and services. In this context also comes in the flourishing of a new literature and the development of public theatre with the birth, in the heart and at the hedges of the town, of the first public theatres of actors (kabuki) an puppets (ningyojoruri).
Again in Japan, in the Meiji period (1868-1912), the city of Tokyo becomes protagonist in many works of fiction. The process of Westernization and modernization changed the aspect of the capital: present and past were in a radical opposition. Tokyo changes rapidly and in its novelty many writers found a source of inspiration. But, for the same reason, other writers tried to reconstruct the atmospheres of the past.
As for the area of studies related to the visual arts, the iconography of the city plays a relevant role. In the study of pre-modern to modern and contemporary city development in Japan, an important role was played by Yoshiwara and, after the fire in 1657, by Shin (New) Yoshiwara, the main pleasure district in Japan from 1617 to 1958.
Concerning the analysis of historical sources, the city is at the center of a series of studies which identify, along with the urbanization, the main historical-social stages of the Asian countries.
Let's take the example of Japan where, during the Meiji era (1868-1912) the urban space was revised in order to make the process of modernization visible. Such a policy was promoted first in the new capital, Tokyo, and then it went forward to other regions of the country. Inside this general frame, we should consider the "border" case of Okinawa, which for several centuries had been a kingdom with its political and cultural identity and in 1879 was annexed by the Japanese national state.
As motors of the Chinese modernization drive since the last decades of the nineteenth century, urban centers and metropolis were also the catalysts of all political, social, and cultural contradictions taken by modernity.
Also important is the history and material culture of urban settlements in the area of Angkor in Cambodia during the Angkorian period (802- 1431) as reflected in literary sources and Chinese historical chronicles of the XIIIth and subsequent centuries. Particular emphasis must be placed on the descriptions of the city and of everyday life contained in Zhou Daguan's Zhenla fengtuji (ca. 1312), the most important written source for the study of Khmer civilization of the late Angkorian period.
As concerns Egyptology, to date, bureaucracy as an object of research has been analysed only at the political and legal levels; for instance, scholars have been able to reconstruct the hierarchy of officials, identifying their respective responsibilities and mutual relationship (see Helck, 1958 and van den Boorn, 1988). In fact, bureaucracy clearly has cultural implications: throughout Egyptian history, officials were both administrators and sources of culture. Not only did some of the most famous viziers produce literary works, but further down the line, even the lowest-ranking officials – necessarily literate – had scientific and literary aspirations. The documents found at Deir el Medina, dating back to Ramses' reign, provide abundant examples; they include hymns to the Pharaoh, sapiential texts and poems. Additionally, as the priests' system in Ancient Egypt was nothing but a complex hierarchy of government officials, their scientific production – which was adopted by schools and professionals alike – could also be placed within the framework outlined above. So far, the scientific works of government officials have been generally analysed individually rather than as a genre; it is now necessary to analyse this production as an organic whole. In recent times a new Leitmotiv in Egyptian literature has been identified in the love for one's city (usually Thebes) and for urban life; here too the authors were typically government officials.
As Egyptian cities basically revolved around provincial temples and their scriptoria, a second urgent problem arises as to the urban and national circulation of written works. Only in recent times has this problem gained attention as concerns religious texts. In fact, proof already exists that their circulation was widespread: to quote but two examples, the papyrus relating to the Elefantina (Museum of Turin) scandals proves that there were exchanges between Elefantina and Thebes, and the iconographic models on papyrus the Temple of Philae were mainly from Edfu. The problem of the people's perception of the official as a man of culture also deserves attention. Traces can be found at the linguistic level: for instance hierogrammatic priests were also referred to as "scholars". <<<