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Medieval Archaeology and Ethnicity: Where are We?
Author(s) -
Curta Florin
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
history compass
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.121
H-Index - 1
ISSN - 1478-0542
DOI - 10.1111/j.1478-0542.2011.00787.x
Subject(s) - ethnic group , instrumentalism , ideology , german , field (mathematics) , sociology , archaeology , medieval studies , nationalism , archaeological theory , history , anthropology , classics , political science , epistemology , politics , philosophy , law , mathematics , pure mathematics
During the last few decades, medieval archaeology has considerably grown into a respectable, and much needed academic discipline. Although no systematic reflection exists to date about ethnicity, the topic has dominated the field, primarily because of new claims (especially among German scholars) that ethnicity in the medieval past is beyond the conceptual reach of archaeologists interested in the Middle Ages. The recent contributions are however building upon theories of ethnicity developed in anthropology and sociology to approach the problem from an angle different from both the primordialist and the instrumentalist agendas. Issues of private vs. public, gender and ethnicity, and the role of the archaeological discourse in the construction of nationalist ideologies have been drawn much attention in recent years.