Pre-modern Societies Research Articles

“The Soviet Government Approves of Our Religion”: Yezidism in Soviet Cinema

Yezidi studies in Russia and the USSR were connected, first of all, with the general development of Kurdish studies. Due to long-term social isolation and religious persecution, the Yezidis were a closed society, which, due to its low social “proletarian” status, was considered by the Bolsheviks as a society capable of assimilating a new revolutionary ideology. One of the most important elements of nation-building was the formation of a national identity among the ethnic groups of the eastern and southern regions of the USSR through the promotion of the ancient heritage of these peoples, as well as the interpretation of their religious traditions as part of their national identity. Unlike the European part of the country, here it was about pre-modern societies and was complicated by tribal and religious aspects. National minorities in the USSR were often assigned to one or another republic, within the framework of which they received the institutions of modern culture and elements of their own administration. In Armenia, home to the largest Yezidi community in the region, Kurdish identity has long been linked to Islam, which could potentially also mean opposition to modern Armenian identity, which emphasizes Christianity. The Armenian side made references to the common past during the First World War and looked for additional ethnic groups as potential allies. Armenia's monopoly on the Kurds and Yezidis is reflected in the cinema. There were few films dedicated to the Kurds during the entire existence of the SSR of Armenia. The main emphasis in the report is made on the films of the interwar period: “Zare” (1926) and “Yezidi Kurds” (1932). These paintings are interesting not only as one of the earliest depictions of Kurdish society, but also as an attempt to represent and interpret Yezidi rites and customs on film.

Theorizing East Asian Minor Cinema

Theorizing East Asian Minor Cinema Woosung Kang (bio) Why East Asia? Ever since Karl Marx referred to the Asiatic mode of production, the whole continent has often been characterized as the origin of modern capitalist social formation. As is well known, Marx once distinguished Asiatic landforms from all other precapitalist social formations. He specifically had in mind "oriental despotism and the propertylessness" in ancient Asia, "this clan or communal property system" that was "created mostly by a combination of manufactures and agriculture within the small commune" (Marx 1973, 473). Regardless of the historical evidence of such a primitive form of production, the main purpose of Marx's Asian reference appears to have been to emphasize the transitory nature of modern bourgeois society, thereby showcasing that capitalist modernity is not a natural phenomenon but a historically specific form that has to "give place to the next higher (and final) stage in the systematic historical process of the economic formation of society" (Lubasz 1984, 457). For Marx, the Asiatic mode of production constitutes, if anything, both the norm and the exception to his systematic theory of human history. It demonstrates the embryonic stage from which nineteenth-century European bourgeois society derived, but it is also to be understood as the deviant form of social formation that is not fully developed into capitalist economy. Asia has simultaneously been conceived of as prehistorical and premodern. Although Marx's polemical argument emphasizes the former intent, it becomes inevitable that the latter has been appropriated by the later theorists of Orientalism to justify the European intervention of modernity into premodern Asian territories. Since the seventeenth century, modernity in Asia has predominantly been compared with European modernity, and as a result, Asian communities have had to suffer various forms of colonialism. Indeed, Asian colonial modernity is frequently defined as the obverse of European modernity, lagging behind—or lacking entirely, for that matter—the universal narrative of civilizational development. In particular, East Asian communities, or what is often called "Sinophone culture" or "trans-Chinese tributary system," are usually described to be [End Page 205] the epitome of premodern feudalism tightly yoked to the familial system of economy (Hamashita 2008, 12). The violent disintegration of the Qing empire in the nineteenth century by European national imperialism was the case in point. Since then, modernity in East Asia means the Westernization by colonialism according to European standards, thereby modernizing the premodern system of Asiatic feudalism. The exception in this process was Japan, which, because it was situated at the fringe of trans-Chinese tribute system and quick to open to European modernity, voluntarily turned its society into a European one earlier than other East Asian societies (Hamashita 2001, 84). The upshot of the colonization of Chinese empire by European national imperialism and later by modernized Japan was the conundrum in which every community in East Asia constantly strives to catch up with European modernity and, at the same time, fiercely resist the very process of colonial modernization. As a result, East Asian countries find themselves faced with the often contradictory task of at once rapidly modernizing their premodern societies and seeking national independence against Western national imperialisms, including the regional superpower of Japan. Just at the moment when European nationalism in the form of colonial imperialism was clearly in decline, colonized East Asian countries strengthened their nationalism for the purpose of rapid modernization. Ironically, this rise of "belated" nationalisms has defined East Asian communities at least since the Sino-Japanese War of 1894–95. Indeed, colonial modernity in East Asia has less to do with the direct occupation of Western imperialism than with the intraregional intervention of Japanese empire. That's why the dominant form of East Asian nationalism and colonial modernity is more anti-Japanese than anti-Western. In fact, the idea of the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere or Pan-Asianism by Japanese regional empire was the double-edged sword that partly helped sponsor the nationalism of colonized societies in East Asia and partly compelled the subjugation of national interests to the geopolitical identity of East Asia against Western imperialism. The desire behind the slogan of Co-Prosperity Sphere is clear: Japan, as a new regional empire...

18~19세기 재해의 발생과 위유어사의 역할

Examined in this article is the state’s role in dealing with natural disasters, and the meaning of such actions. Natural disasters tend to affect the people’s lives in a rather harsh fashion, and unlike the modern society in which efforts are made to minimize the damages from such occurrences, premodern societies rather tried to restore their original status, and as soon as possible. <BR> In the Joseon society of the 18th and 19th centuries, whenever a natural disaster would hit a particular region, a relief effort targeting that region would be made to feed the famished local population. Yet oftentimes it was difficult for the local authorities to effectively respond to the situation, as they were usually not equipped to handle situations such as cases of major river flooding that would result in the loss of many households and the residents turned into homeless, or huge fires in crowded areas which would inevitably burn down hundreds of thatched-roof houses. In such cases, the central government had to dispatch Eosa(御史) figures to address the situation.<BR> Among all these Eosa officials sent by the government, the Wiyu Eosa figures were the ones who were dispatched to ‘care for the people’ in the region and ‘alleviate their pain.’ Sending them was also an effort to send a message to the region, effectively saying that the government will take care of them. The government did so because it was necessary for it to prevent the local population from abandoning their hometowns and becoming refugees, and even Official decrees(曉諭文) from the King himself would be issued in regions under more dire circumstances, so that they could believe the King was aware of their plights and would eventually help them out. In a manner of speaking, the dispatching of these Wiyu Oesa figures was another display of the King’s own benevolent governance, signifying the King’s resolve to relieve the pain of the people.

Wiring China: The impact of telegraph construction on grain market integration in late imperial China, 1870–1911

AbstractHow did the telegraph improve market integration in late imperial China? This study exploits differences in the exogenous timing of telegraph construction in different prefectures from 1870 to 1911. The empirical results show that the arrival of the telegraph within a prefecture pair reduced the ratio of the two prefectures’ monthly high‐grade rice prices by 6.6 percentage points in nine southern Chinese provinces, or 17.2 per cent of the mean of the dependent variable. The main results are robust to controlling for institutional or transportation changes occurring during the same period, to using an alternative measure of market integration, to using prices of mid‐grade and low‐grade rice, and to excluding outliers with low data quality. In addition, the effect of the telegraph was stronger for prefecture pairs in which information transmission was more costly, and traditional long‐distance traders played an important role in the telegraph's promotion of market integration. In conclusion, our findings help us understand how a new information technology enhanced market integration in a premodern agrarian society with an established commercial network.

A Study to Assess Prevalence of Nocturnal Enuresis and Its Associated Factor among School Going Children in Selected Rural Areas of Vadodara

Background: Nocturnal enuresis, also called bedwetting, is involuntary urination while asleep after the age at which bladder control usually begins. Bedwetting in children and adults can result in emotional stress. Little is known about toilet training in pre-modern societies, but attitudes toward training in recent history have fluctuated substantially, and may vary across cultures and according to demographics. Treatments range from behavioral therapy, such as bedwetting alarms, to medication, such as hormone replacement, and even surgery such as urethral dilatation. Since most bedwetting is simply a developmental delay, most treatment plans aim to protect or improve self-esteem. Treatment guidelines recommend that the physician counsel the parents, warning about psychological consequences caused by pressure, shaming, or punishment for a condition children cannot control. Bedwetting is the most common childhood complaint. Children may face certain risks associated with training, such as slips or falling toilet seats, and toilet training may act in some circumstances as a trigger for abuse.&#x0D; Aims: The aim of this study is to assess the prevalence of nocturnal enuresis and its associated factors among school going children in selected rural areas of Vadodara.&#x0D; Methods: A descriptive research design was carried out for this study. The sample size of the study is 500. Participants were selected using stratified sampling technique. The tool is consists of two parts. First part consist of demographic data of the sample and second part consist of assertiveness self-assessment questionnaire.&#x0D; Results: While assessing the associated factors of nocturnal enuresis in school going children, 15% children are having mild nocturnal enursesis,77%children are having moderate nocturnal enuresis and 8% children are having severe nocturnal enuresis. While assessing the association, there are three demographic variables age, sex and education of father has no significant association. So H0 has been rejected and H1 is accepted.&#x0D; Conclusion: The present study concluded that majority of the children’s is having moderate level of nocturnal enuresis (77%) and minority of the children’s is having severe level of nocturnal enuresis (8%).

ЛИЧНОСТНЫЕ РЕСУРСЫ РАЗВИТИЯ СОВРЕМЕННОГО РОССИЙСКОГО ОБЩЕСТВА: РЕТРОСПЕКТИВА И ПЕРСПЕКТИВА ПРОБЛЕМЫ

The purpose of the study is to research the social significance of the individual as the most important resource of social development. The methodological basis of the research.&nbsp; The author considers the concept of personality, combining philosophical and sociological approaches, identifies its main semantic aspects, while relying on the ideas and theoretical developments of the largest social thinkers of the classical and modern periods. Research results. The article analyzes the attitude of society to the individual in a diachronic cross-section, examines in detail the changes in this attitude in various historical epochs – in a pre-modern society, industrial and modern developed, which has gone beyond industrial development to post-industrialism. The article presents the results of the analysis of the characteristics of the creative orientation of the individual, traces the connection of their formation with the humanistic paradigm of education, which provides the possibility of free and comprehensive development of individual abilities, satisfaction of all individual educational needs. Prospects of the study. The necessity of studying the dependence of the level of development of society, including modern Russian, on the effectiveness of the formation of creative personal qualities in the younger generation on a mass scale.

Discipleship, Secularity, and the Modern Self: Dancing to Silent Music, Judith A.Merkle, T&amp;T Clark, 2020 (ISBN 978‐0‐5676‐9340‐2), viii + 240 pp., pb £21.99

Discipleship, Secularity, and the Modern Self: Dancing to Silent Music, Judith A.Merkle, T&amp;T Clark, 2020 (ISBN 978‐0‐5676‐9340‐2), viii + 240 pp., pb £21.99

Fitness and Power: The Contribution of Genetics to the History of Differential Reproduction.

Textual evidence from pre-modern societies supports the prediction that status differences among men translate to variance in reproductive success. In recent years, analysis of genetic data has opened up new ways of studying this relationship. By investigating cases that range over several millennia, these analyses repeatedly document the replacement of local men by newcomers and reveal instances of exceptional reproductive success of specific male lineages. These findings suggest that violent population transfers and conquests could generate considerable reproductive advantages for male dominants. At the same time, this does not always seem to have been the case. Moreover, it is difficult to link such outcomes to particular historical characters or events, or to identify status-biased reproductive inequalities within dominant groups. The proximate factors that mediated implied imbalances in reproductive success often remain unclear. A better understanding of the complex interplay between social power and genetic fitness will only arise from sustained transdisciplinary engagement.

新冠疫情下基督宗教醫治觀念及實踐的倫理糾結

LANGUAGE NOTE | Document text in Chinese; abstract also in English.&#x0D; 基督宗教自創教以來，其信息和實踐都與醫治息息相關。人類犯罪墮落的肉身和靈魂，雖然有「因信稱義」之拯救，但更需要教會的聖禮及群體生活來使之潔淨與得醫治。它們都是信徒需要親身參與的活動，被視為不能隨意缺席的集體活動。&#x0D; 另外，教會一直在瘟疫流行時贈醫施藥、照顧病者。基督徒無私的醫治服務，雖然在歷史上為大眾所尊崇，但這些舉動也令他們冒上受感染的風險。在前現代的社會裡，教會的「醫治」仍能對民眾的健康作出貢獻，但現代社會已不需教會扮演公共保健和醫療的角色。尤有進者，基督宗教的醫治觀念和實踐，在今次的新冠病毒疫情裡，被描述為危害公共健康的行徑。本文旨在探討這種變化背後的倫理糾結，並分析教會的回應策略，如何重新詮釋基督宗教的醫治觀念，及應對現今的倫理挑戰。&#x0D; From its very beginning, the message and practice of the Christian faith have been inextricably related to healing. Although the eternal salvation of sinful human beings' body and soul is provided by justification through faith, the Church teaches that our soul and body should be purified and healed by sacraments and communal Christian life. These in-person activities are essential to Christian practice. Moreover, historically, the Church has dispensed medicine and taken care of the sick during pandemics. Christianity's caring service has been well respected by the public throughout its history, and in pre-modern society, Christian healthcare services often contributed substantially to the psychological and physical wellbeing of many people. In modern society, however, the role of the Church has been replaced by the public healthcare and medical systems. Particularly during the Covid-19 pandemic, the Christian understanding and practice of healing has sometimes been accused of endangering public health. This paper therefore investigates the ethical landscapes behind the change of public opinion and the strategies used by Christian churches to meet this challenge.

Landscape, upland-lowland, community, and economy of the mekong river (6th-8th century CE): case studies from the Pre-Angkorian centers of Thala Borivat and Sambor

ABSTRACT Southeast Asian archaeological research often emphasizes upland-lowland dynamics in the development of premodern complex societies. This paper tracks upland-lowland dynamics in Pre-Angkorian (6th-8th century CE) Cambodia by focusing on land-use and economy along the Mekong River. Proto-urban settlements emerged throughout the Tonle Sap and Mekong Delta alluvial plains but also appeared at key centers such as Thala Borivat, Sambor, and Wat Phu along the Mekong River’s more narrow corridors. The diversified economy that involved movement of forest resources and food between these tropical upland-lowland ecotones, observed during the colonial period, emerged by the 6th-7th centuries CE and coincided with political consolidations during the Pre-Angkor period. Analysis of this region suggests that non-Khmer (ethnic minority) swidden agricultural groups who now dominate the uplands have premodern roots in the region. Using upland-lowland settings to study tropical habitation, this archaeological study offers a risk-reduction exchange-based model for understanding Cambodia’s premodern Mekong organization.

Eesti- ja Liivimaa libahundipärimus rahvapärase ontoloogia muutumise peegeldajana

The article gives a short overview of the Estonian werewolf tradition in the 16th and 17th centuries and a glimpse into the 19th–20th-century werewolf beliefs. The image of werewolf of the earlier and later periods is compared. The differences between the images of these two periods are explained with the help of the approaches of Tim Ingold and Philipp Descola, which ground the changes in the worldview taking place together with the shift from the pre-modern society into modernity. The mental world of the 16th–17th-century Estonian and Livonian peasant did not encompass the category of nature, and the borders between the human being and the animal on the one side and organism and environment on the other side were not so rigid as they are in today’s people’s comprehension of the world. The ability to change into a wolf was seen as an added possibility of acquiring new experiences and benefits. As the popular ontology had changed by the second half of the 19th century – the human mind was raised into the ultimate position and the animal was comprehended as being inferior – the transformation of a man into an animal, if it was seriously taken at all, seemed to be strange and unnatural.

The demoralization of society and the proliferation of organization

PurposeIn this paper, the authors aim to clarify the relationship between organization and society. They argue that the proliferation of organization in modernity has not yet been properly understood in light of the absence of organization in premodern times. The authors therefore ask: Why do organizations proliferate? Why do they proliferate in such manifold organizational forms? And how can these heterogeneous forms nevertheless be related to a common problem to which organizations provide a solution? A comparative historical analysis based on the theory of social systems reveals that organizations fill a gap which the decline of morality as an integrative success medium created.Design/methodology/approachThe paper develops a conceptual framework focusing on the theory of media within Luhmann’s theory of social systems as a point of departure. The authors discuss the concept of “interpenetration” to assess the relation between morality and organization. They raise several follow-up questions for future empirical research, most prominently pertaining to the relationship between organization and digitalization.FindingsThe main finding is that morality can be conceptualized as a specific success medium (alongside religion and symbolically generalized communication media) which used to structure premodern societies by means of social and interhuman interpenetration at once. Modern society instead employs two differentiated forms of interpenetration: Social interpretation through organizations and interhuman interpenetration through love relationships. These centripetal counterforces help to mediate the centrifugal forces unleashed by the full development of modern success media. Modern society critically depends on the proliferation of organizations.Originality/valueThis paper examines the relationship between morality and organization not from the perspective of interaction or organization, but from the perspective of society. This approach provides novel insights in that it opens up promising avenues of comparison between organization and other social forms. Understanding the distinctively modern “success story” of organization as a social form makes it possible to ask about corresponding potentials and limitations, but also alternative possibilities. In doing so, the authors depart from most studies of organizations grounded in social systems theory as the authors primarily focus on Luhmann’s theory of media (as opposed to the theory of differentiation).

The problem of billeting distribution in Renaissance Spain: absolutism, privilege and local oligarchies

ABSTRACT The ever-increasing demands of war during the Renaissance caused rulers to continuously impose new taxes and exactions. One of the most unpopular exactions was billeting – the obligation to provide shelter to the king’s troops. The fact that billeting could be enforced despite widespread hardship and discontent has been traditionally interpreted as evidence of absolutism. In contrast, opposition to billeting tends to be regarded as a form of resistance to ‘despotism’. From this perspective, the ability of the monarchy to impose its demands in this matter and others is fundamentally reduced to a question of power dynamics between king and country. Some of the most popular sociological theories about the origin of the modern system of nation-states and their respective constitutional regimes base their conclusions on this type of assumption. Within this interpretative framework, an intrinsically anachronistic retrospective projection of the present paradigms of modernity can be found. This has led to the perpetuation of a stereotyped view of a complex topic. Billeting was not only dependent on strategic and material factors, but also on the inequality, hierarchy and legal compartmentalization that characterized pre-modern societies. The objective of this study is to discuss the importance of legal culture and social values for a proper understanding of the problematic practice of billeting and, more generally, power relations in pre-modern times.

Mare ORBIS: a network model for maritime transportation in the Roman world

This article presents for the first time the maritime transportation model that supports version 2.0 of ORBIS: the Stanford Geospatial Network Model of the Roman World. In Part 1, the author demonstrates the extent to which maps misrepresent the lived experience of connectivity (travel, transportation, and communication) in the premodern Mediterranean. In Part 2, he introduces readers to ORBIS, a pioneering digital project that allows users to calculate the costs (in terms of time and expense) of connectivity throughout the Roman transportation network. In Part 3, he emphasizes the extent to which Roman society relied on maritime connections and identifies a variety of factors that make modelling maritime connectivity far more difficult than modelling connectivity overland. In Part 4, he presents the model he developed to overcome these obstacles. In Part 5, he concludes by highlighting four important characteristics of the model. On one level, this article demonstrates to specialists the importance and potential payoffs of digital approaches to studying the premodern Mediterranean. On another level, it provides both specialists and non-specialists with more accurate and historically contextualized understandings of not only premodern geography per se, but also the crucial role that geography played in shaping the development of premodern societies.

Introduction: How to Conceive Global Function Systems?

Abstract The introduction summarizes the analytical perspectives used and the conceptual structures introduced in the essays of this volume. On the basis of the results of this synthesis it proposes four directions for further research: 1. The identification of beginnings of functional differentiation in premodern societies in different world regions. 2. The analysis of conceptual transfers and of the contours of global categories that connect the regions of an emerging world society. 3. The historical-analytical tracing of the differentiation histories of the individual function systems. How do they expand on the basis of the symbol complexes of which they consist? 4. The study of the complexity of a functionally differentiated world society: The multiplicity of function systems, the intensification of interactions among them, the global problems behind the rise of new function systems, the varieties within function systems and the variant structural couplings between them.

No Wild Iris

The Philippines, as a tropical archipelago, is “concurrently a country of premodern, modern, and postmodern societies[:] our rural areas, small communities, and villages, while we may sweepingly characterize them as premodern, possses at the same time some of the trappings of postmodern cities like Manila, Los Angeles, or Paris” (Cruz-Lucero, 2007, p. 7). And yet, as a nation, this concurrence of temporalities is ultimately flattened, so as to turn it into “a sociological organism moving calendrically through homogeneous, empty time” (Anderson, 2006, p. 26). What emerges, therefore, is a Philippine time that is also a disjuncture: multiplicities that insist on a singularity, or a singularity that insists on being multiple. Keeping time with this contradiction between the diverse temporalities in the archipelagic tropics (see Carter, 2013) and the adamant dream toward a nation-state, this poem meditates on the concurrence of various events that happen in the archipelago nation during the 2020 COVID-19 global pandemic. Taking cues from the 1992 poem “The Wild Iris” penned by the 2020 Nobel Prize for Literature recipient Louise Glück, “No Wild Iris” attempts to interrogate the experience of homogenous and empty time in the longest lockdown in world history. By interweaving the personal, the political, and the ecological, it harnesses the lyrical while also disclosing its limits, if not outrightly refusing the tendency to sentimentality and universality as a poem.

Magic as a Useful Category of Historical Analysis

AbstractThis article outlines the role and function of ‘service’ magic in premodern society, and suggests ways in which the study of magic can be used as a lens to investigate and understand broader historical questions. Magic studies is a marginalised field, and the supernatural generally is treated as an unusual aspect of the human experience. This article shows that there are major benefits to reintegrating magic into wider historical studies. The article begins by introducing the concept of service magic as a phenomenon in premodern societies, and argues for its fundamental importance particularly during the medieval and early modern periods. Having established this, I explore the ways that its reintegration can affect our interpretation of the past. This article suggests ways in which magic might be useful for exploring other fields of social, political and economic history. Its function as an illicit tool makes magic a unique window for exploring a number of topics, such as cultures of tolerance and persecution, black market and proto‐capitalist economics, and liminal or marginalised communities.

Begging for Rain: Economic and Social Effects of Climate in the Early Koryŏ Period

Abstract As in other premodern societies, the economy and society of Koryŏ Korea (918–1392) were greatly affected by climatological phenomena, particularly rain and drought. However, climate played a critical role in the early formation of Koryŏ, especially in reinforcing a sociocultural belief system that supported monarchical authority. The kings utilized a “menu” of rituals designed to appease Heaven and create favorable climate conditions, which legitimated the temporal and spiritual power of the king. The different rituals can be categorized as personal rituals, private rituals, and public rituals. While climate crises threatened the economic and social stability of Koryŏ society, they were also opportunities for the Koryŏ rulers to display and reaffirm their supreme economic and juridical authority. The kings demonstrated their power by reducing corvée labor and taxes, postponing or eliminating monastery construction, and commuting judicial punishments. While weather and climate were natural phenomena, the social responses to weather were encapsulated in a ritual system that reinforced both the personal responsibility of the king and popular belief in the power and authority of the king to affect the physical and metaphysical environment.

Epidemics in premodern Middle Eastern society and thought

AbstractThis article examines thought about and responses to epidemics in the Middle East before the 19th century. Its focus is mostly on approaches to plagues, the responses of state officials to them, and people's reactions in the Ottoman period (16th–18th centuries), with some attention given to the early Islamic and Mamluk periods. Among issues explored are distribution of grain, price control measures, tax adjustments, and an array of other actions taken mostly locally, including quarantine. The latter referred primarily to the question of flight: whether it was permissible to leave a plague‐ridden area, and how many people actually took such action. As I show here, flight was a common response despite prohibitions on the practice appearing in the Islamic plague literature.

The Political Distribution of Economic Privilege in Van Buren's New York

AbstractHistorians have long recognized that one of the principal functions of early nineteenth-century American state governments was the distribution of economic privileges, including preferential grants of corporate privileges. North, Wallis, and Weingast label such regimes natural states and argue that government as privilege dispenser is a characteristic of most societies and, in some few instances, represents a transitional phase between traditional premodern societies and modern open-access democracies. This article documents the operation of the natural state in New York, focusing on how Martin Van Buren's Democratic coalition manipulated the distribution of bank and insurance company charters so as to advance the interests of their Democratic coalition. Consistent with the North, Wallis, and Weingast interpretation, the evidence shows that the transition to open access was neither smooth nor inevitable; Van Buren's Democratic coalition reversed the long-run trend toward greater access until they were unseated during the financial crisis years of the late 1830s.