Our understanding of the processes leading to the emergence of the Tiwanaku state around 500 A.D. has been severely hampered by a lack of information on the long Formative Period (1500 B.C. - 500 A.D.) which preceded it. This thesis develops an agent centered approach to studying prehistoric settlement system formation and transformation. It is argued that any adequate understanding of settlement dynamics must consider varying settlement growth rates as resulting from the concrete and historically contingent residential decisions of a regional population. Thus, regional settlement dynamics can be read in such a way as to reveal broad, aggregate patterns of prehistoric decision-making. Agency may be studied in the absence of a well-defined agent. This approach is then applied to the problem of the southern Titicaca Basin Formative Period. The evolution of the regional settlement system is traced from the establishment of sedentary agricultural villages (1500 B.C.) through the early Colonial Period (1600 A.D.). Significant milestones include: 1) the evolution of a system of permanent autonomous villages (beginning 800 B.C.), 2) the development of a multi-community polity, which I term the Taraco Peninsula Polity (250 B.C.), 3) Tiwanaku regional dominance and eventual state formation (beginning perhaps around 400 A.D.), 4) Tiwanaku collapse (1100 A.D.), and 5) conquest by foreign powers (ca. 1450 A.D.). These developments are interpreted in light of the decision-making patterns revealed by settlement dynamics, as well as significant changes in regional exchange systems, political relations, subsistence regimes, and the level of Lake Titicaca. A new account of Tiwanaku state formation is finally presented, one which stresses cross-cultural processes as they were played out against the field of Titicaca Basin environmental, economic, and demographic history.
In addition to the arts and philosophy, the ancients Greeks contributed greatly to the ideas and practices of economic and social decision making. In the fourth century BC, in his manuals on public administration, Xenophon offered pioneering ideas on leadership, management, stimulating economic growth, and fund raising. In Athens during the fifth to third centuries BC, random-drawing devices were used regularly to foster the democratic selection of public officials and jurors. The Delphic oracle of the ninth to the third centuries BC was the first central intelligence database of the ancient world, an interdisciplinary think tank of approximately 90 priests, deemed the best educated experts of antiquity. They collected and evaluated information and advised ordinary people and leaders, among them Alexander the Great. Major project management in the fourth century BC included the following two cases: In Samos island, a one-kilometer water-supply tunnel was built, connecting two tunnels originating at opposite ends of a mountain and meeting in the middle only 0.6 meters apart. A preserved contract for the draining of a lake in the Eretria region near Athens shows the project to be the first build-operate-and-transfer project in history.
En este artículo se analiza la situación interna de la política beocia a lo largo de la segunda mitad del siglo III a. C. en relación con la casa real macedonia. Se pone de relieve la importancia de las relaciones personales y la adhesión de la multitud hacia la figura de determinados personajes principales como resorte determinante en todas las actuaciones políticas. ; The subject of this paper is the analysis of the political troubles in Beotia along the second half of the third century b. C. in relation to the Royal Macedonian House. It is inhanced the main role of the personal relations within this context and how the adherence showed by boeotian people to some politicians who were backed by the Antigonids was a fundamental factor in this political pattern.
This doctoral thesis has two purposes. First, it develops a universally applicable model for the analysis of waste disposal and recycling practices. This model synthesises Schiffer's behavioural analysis of the formation processes of the archaeological record with the history, sociology and anthropology of conceptualisations of dirt. Second, it shows how this model may be applied to ancient Greece. In the tradition of material culture studies, it aims to challenge the entrenched oppositions between archaeology, philology, history and sociology, and to interpret archaeological, epigraphic and literary sources within an integrated theoretical-methodological framework. The model is used to explore various aspects of ancient Greek waste management. It analyses the interdependence of ancient Greek waste management practices with changing concepts of dirt, pollution and cleanliness in the context of the development of the Greek polis. It also examines the universal analytical categories of waste disposal and recycling practices within diverse social and historical situations and settings with a view to analysing the cultural categories of these practices. Practices of disposal and recycling of solid and liquid waste are analysed in various contexts, including sanctuaries, settlements, agorai, and cemeteries, with respect to depositional processes, diversion rate and range of recycling practices. Materials studied include organic waste, potsherds, ostraka, building material, slaughter and consumption waste, funerary implements, votive offerings, architectural features and water. These examples allow the analysis - within the limits of a study using data in an exemplificatory rather than a statistically valid way - of the influence of the concepts of the sacred and the profane on the treatment of waste in ancient Greece and the degrees to which economic, political, social or symbolic aspects of recycling practices were stressed in different contexts.
The very first record of ginseng in the Korean peninsula dates back to early 6th century A.D., with its concentration in Chinese sources. Regardless of the fact that the Korean ginseng was introduced to China before the birth of Christ, there is no writing about it for 500 years. This is because the Chinese substituted Korean ginseng for the Chinese one, which was cultivated around the Shangdang Area. The ginseng, however, is greatly influenced by natural environment and its native area being Manchuria and the Korean peninsula. It is believed that ginseng range from the northern mountains of Pyongando and Hamkyongdo provinces to the southern Taebaek and Sobaek mountains in Korea. Especially the area of Madasan(Baekdusan?) mountain was well-known for ginseng-growing district. The ginseng taxation of the Three Kingdoms period seems to have gone through certain changes along the development stages of the ancient state. The first taxation stage is estimated to be in the form of a tribute. Afterwards, as the governing power of central government was gradually strengthened in the subjugated places, there was a major replacement from tributary form to actual goods levy. The actual areas of such tributary collection is unknown, but the [Sejongshilok Chiriji](geographical records of Sejong chronicles) of the early Choson era indicates 113 prefectures and counties as those which submit ginseng to the central government. These administrations provide permissible clues to the historic background of ginseng-taxed regions of the Three Kingdoms. The ginseng trade also is estimated to have flourished in ancient Korea through the Han commanderies of China. However, the writings of Korean ginseng trade is non-existent until 6th century A .D., Such phenomenon can be attributed to few reasons. First, the Chinese took little interest in Korean ginseng as they believed they had their own native ginseng in China. Second, same ignorance resulted from its inflowing but new feature. Third, active communication became impossible as the Goguryo-China relations deteriorated overall after the closing of the commanderies. Nevertheless, ginseng eventually was properly introduced into China as the relations between two regions improved after the 5th century A .D., which led the Chinese to realize the difference between Chinese and Korean ginseng. So it is estimated that such causes generated the real beginning of ginseng records in the 6th century. Based on the remaining texts, it can be inferred that trade in the Three Kingdoms era usually was conducted in each kingdom were all different, which was reflected in their respective contact with China. Such characteristics must have directly influenced their ginseng trade with China as well. For example, Shilla was only able to perform major ginseng commerce with China from the 7th century. There are various records of ginseng trade in Unified Shilla period, owing mostly to the previous tributary trade. Additionally, there is a case in which a certain individual presented Korean ginseng to a Chinese, as well as a case of Shilla ginseng trade in Japan. Aforementioned examples clearly illustrate that the fundamental structure of ginseng trade in East Asia was completed during the Unified Shilla period. ; open
In the context of philippinische Historiographiegeschichte as Ideengeschichte, the Filipino Pantayong Pananaw would be defined; then, illustrated as the times´ philosophy, methodology, and perspective of history, which begun the country´s new history and historiography, Bagong Kasaysayan. PP and BK embody therewith the Filipino historians´ emic indigenization movement --- pag-aangking mula sa loob, which proceeded towards the start of an actual Filipino historiography, Pagsasakasaysayang Pilipino.The ancient Filipino concept for history is kasaysayan, meaning significant story(ies); chosen, important narratives --- orally transferred through folklore, genealogies, songs and rituals --- of the communities. Political colonization and intellectual compartmentalization starting 1565 discontinued this. Concept kasaysayan was repressed; placed in its stead was historía, narratives of colonizing foreigners, who had contacts with the native inhabitants --- the eventually recognized Philippine history and historiography. Historía was continually perpetuated by Filipino (foreign) educated historians; which, in turn, led to the average Filipino´s foreign conception of his own history. However, this trend was broken starting the 1970´s. Pantayong Pananaw was introduced. For the historian, this is a metaphorical return to himself and to his people. For the discipline, this is the operational Filipino written historical discourse´s start. The historian must methodologically create a significant Filipino history, Bagong Kasaysayan. This meant, creation of history, about, by, for the Filipino, in Filipino; the commencement of Pagsasakasaysayang Pilipino; the realization of disciplinal indigenization --- a political stand; part of the people´s exertions in independently determining their pride and person, in regaining mastery of their probable future, especially in the midst of today´s mythos globalizing community.
This thesis investigates two important and related aspects of Roman history during the period 217 B.C. - A.D. 70. Salient types of social legislation, in particular the leges sumptuariae, funerariae, aleariae, marital and sexual laws and magisterial edicts, form one element of the inquiry. The reasons for, and the extent of, the public regulation of the personal expenditure and private behaviour of citizens are explored under the changing political circumstances of the period. Another concern is to analyse the development of a prominent theme in the classical writers and historians, namely, the perspective of moral decline. The deep-rooted and pervasive pessimism evident in the historiographical tradition during a period of exceptional prosperity and imperial expansion is critically examined. The interaction between law and morality is a principal focus of this thesis. In chapter 1 (10-30), the general themes of the work are introduced. A review of the relevant scholarly literature is followed by a brief exposition of my methodology and objectives (11-13). Then a chronological survey of the important social regulations passed during the Republic and early Principate is provided (13-17). Chapter 2 (31-72) probes the ways in which legal enactments were presented both within governing circles and to the populace at large. The public interest was frequently invoked. Paternalistic concern, it is argued, was often advanced for that which was essentially self-regarding (31-36). A succinct account of the debate on decline in classical authors leads to a consideration of the mos maiorum (ancestral custom) and the role of myth in Roman historiography (36-46). The contemporary dispute between liberal and radical scholarship on the nature and function of law in society is summarized (46-50). In Ancient Rome, it is contended, the governing order's preferential access to the channels of public discussion was of decisive importance. It facilitated the expression of an ideological perspective which served to promote widespread acceptance of its legislative needs, as is exemplified by the passage of sumptuary controls so necessary for the well-being of the senatorial aristocracy in the second century B.C. (50-52). The socio-economic significance of Roman sumptuary laws is examined in chapter 3 (73-163). The main discussion is prefaced by a typology of sumptuary laws, designed to account for the existence of expenditure restraint in widely differing political systems (73-75). The inquiry proceeds, firstly, to investigate those regulations (esp. the iura and 1eges theatrales) which had a direct bearing on the structure of Roman society and, then, to explore the complexity of problems that the maintenance of this formal framework entailed for the authorities in periods of rapid social and economic change. A consideration of powerful social pressures and forces such as envy, emulative consumption and mobility, is complemented by a discussion of the diverse strategies employed by the Roman authorities to uphold hierarchical distinctions (75-107). Profit-capping, price-fixing, monopolies and rationing form diverse topics of an inquiry into the economic objectives of sumptuary restraint (108-119), Status requirements and the spiralling cost of political competition are held to account tor the divorce between the attitudes and practice of the members of the governing order with regard to luxus and Hellenistic practices (119-128). A detailed inspection of the sumptuary legislation passed during the Republic provides the core or chapter (164-210). The laws are assessed under separate categories, e.g. leges de sumptibus et de luxu mensae, funerariae, de habitu et tuitu, viariae (164-182). The techniques by which the aristocracy endeavoured to preserve cohesion amongst its ranks and thus to uphold its collective rule are scrutinized 182-2. In chapter 5 (211-259), attention is focused on how the Roman authorities attempted to compel obedience to these measures. The operation of extra-legal constraints is discussed c 211-2l4). A hypothesis of the development of Roman criminal law from its origins through to the early Principate is advanced with particular emphasis on the significance of senatorial participation in the juridical process and on the need to define accurately the competency of individual magistracies (214-239). The use of private informers (quadruplatores in the Republic, delatores in the Empire) is critically assessed (239-243). In chapter 6 (260-288), opinions and actions at variance with the conservative orthodoxy on historical development are evaluated. Resistance to sumptuary restraint surfaced in a variety of ways: in the formal abrogation of a measure; in technical dodges; in outright defiance (260-268). The ambivalences between publicly expressed ideals of conduct and actual practice came to a head in the adjudicative processes of the court. The mechanisms of forensic practice served to provoke maturer reflections on social change (269-273). Roman attitudes towards change are surveyed. It is argued that divergent opinions on ancestral tradition and on the propriety of innovation were often advanced in opposition to overzealous attempts at sumptuary restraint or in pursuit of specific political goals (269-279). Chapter 7 (289-329) concludes the work with a historical appraisal of the coincidence between the passage of sumptuary legislation and the debate on moral decline. Three major developments in the functioning of this coincidence are outlined: (1), its use as a regulatory device by the senatorial aristocracy from the early 2nd century B.C. onwards; (2), its use as a crucial source of legitimation by the aspiring politician-generals of the 1st century B.C.; (3), its use as a key disciplinary tactic by the imperial regimes from Augustus onwards (289-307). Finally, serious governmental incursions into central areas of social life during the early Principate - the suppression of criticism, legal scrutiny of knowledge and belief, restrictions on assemblage - are examined, and interpreted as evidencing the autocratic tendencies of the period (308-315). Four short appendices follow (330-361): the first outlines the major theories of decline (330-333): the second explores the terminology of inequality (334-339; the third surveys the major perspectives on social change (340-342); the fourth documents the manifestations of luxury in Roman society (343-361).
International audience This article deals with the (re) writing of Kirant history in East Nepal, using books, pamphlets and locally written and widely read articles. The actors of this recent production of new histories are what I call 'indigenist' intellectuals. They are representatives of the Kirant population and belonging to an urbanized and educated middle-class. These indigenists have adopted an academic style in order to present their historiography as science and, as a consequence, truth. These new forms of historical production are seen as alternatives to the national standard versions which are perceived by the indigenists as false and biased in favor of high caste Indo-Nepalese. Although up till now the Kirant were commonly perceived as tribal groups living within the orbit of civilization by the Hindu royalty, Kirant indigenists wish to reverse this perception. They insist that in ancient times the Kirant had built a brilliant civilization which was then destroyed by Indo-Nepalese military expansion. We can see how this reinvented past legitimizes in their eyes the claims of this lost nation which should have been their heritage. Debates about history go hand in hand with a 'revitalization' or re-invention of ritual traditions. It appears, therefore, that from these discussions about history come other, more vindictive actions, such as the defense of cultural, political, economic and territorial rights. ; Cet article porte sur la (ré)écriture de l'histoire des Kirant du Népal oriental, à partir de livres, feuillets, articles qui sont localement produits et largement diffusés. Les acteurs de cette production récente de nouvelles histoires sont, ce que j'appelle des intellectuels « indigénistes », c'est-à-dire des représentants de l'ensemble kirant, appartenant à une classe moyenne urbanisée et éduquée, et qui ont adopté un style académique afin de poser leur historiographie comme scientifique, et par là vraie. Ces nouvelles formes de production de l'histoire se présentent comme des alternatives aux ...
International audience ; This article deals with the (re) writing of Kirant history in East Nepal, using books, pamphlets and locally written and widely read articles. The actors of this recent production of new histories are what I call 'indigenist' intellectuals. They are representatives of the Kirant population and belonging to an urbanized and educated middle-class. These indigenists have adopted an academic style in order to present their historiography as science and, as a consequence, truth. These new forms of historical production are seen as alternatives to the national standard versions which are perceived by the indigenists as false and biased in favor of high caste Indo-Nepalese. Although up till now the Kirant were commonly perceived as tribal groups living within the orbit of civilization by the Hindu royalty, Kirant indigenists wish to reverse this perception. They insist that in ancient times the Kirant had built a brilliant civilization which was then destroyed by Indo-Nepalese military expansion. We can see how this reinvented past legitimizes in their eyes the claims of this lost nation which should have been their heritage. Debates about history go hand in hand with a 'revitalization' or re-invention of ritual traditions. It appears, therefore, that from these discussions about history come other, more vindictive actions, such as the defense of cultural, political, economic and territorial rights. ; Cet article porte sur la (ré)écriture de l'histoire des Kirant du Népal oriental, à partir de livres, feuillets, articles qui sont localement produits et largement diffusés. Les acteurs de cette production récente de nouvelles histoires sont, ce que j'appelle des intellectuels « indigénistes », c'est-à-dire des représentants de l'ensemble kirant, appartenant à une classe moyenne urbanisée et éduquée, et qui ont adopté un style académique afin de poser leur historiographie comme scientifique, et par là vraie. Ces nouvelles formes de production de l'histoire se présentent comme des alternatives aux ...
International audience ; This article deals with the (re) writing of Kirant history in East Nepal, using books, pamphlets and locally written and widely read articles. The actors of this recent production of new histories are what I call 'indigenist' intellectuals. They are representatives of the Kirant population and belonging to an urbanized and educated middle-class. These indigenists have adopted an academic style in order to present their historiography as science and, as a consequence, truth. These new forms of historical production are seen as alternatives to the national standard versions which are perceived by the indigenists as false and biased in favor of high caste Indo-Nepalese. Although up till now the Kirant were commonly perceived as tribal groups living within the orbit of civilization by the Hindu royalty, Kirant indigenists wish to reverse this perception. They insist that in ancient times the Kirant had built a brilliant civilization which was then destroyed by Indo-Nepalese military expansion. We can see how this reinvented past legitimizes in their eyes the claims of this lost nation which should have been their heritage. Debates about history go hand in hand with a 'revitalization' or re-invention of ritual traditions. It appears, therefore, that from these discussions about history come other, more vindictive actions, such as the defense of cultural, political, economic and territorial rights. ; Cet article porte sur la (ré)écriture de l'histoire des Kirant du Népal oriental, à partir de livres, feuillets, articles qui sont localement produits et largement diffusés. Les acteurs de cette production récente de nouvelles histoires sont, ce que j'appelle des intellectuels « indigénistes », c'est-à-dire des représentants de l'ensemble kirant, appartenant à une classe moyenne urbanisée et éduquée, et qui ont adopté un style académique afin de poser leur historiographie comme scientifique, et par là vraie. Ces nouvelles formes de production de l'histoire se présentent comme des alternatives aux ...
International audience ; This article deals with the (re) writing of Kirant history in East Nepal, using books, pamphlets and locally written and widely read articles. The actors of this recent production of new histories are what I call 'indigenist' intellectuals. They are representatives of the Kirant population and belonging to an urbanized and educated middle-class. These indigenists have adopted an academic style in order to present their historiography as science and, as a consequence, truth. These new forms of historical production are seen as alternatives to the national standard versions which are perceived by the indigenists as false and biased in favor of high caste Indo-Nepalese. Although up till now the Kirant were commonly perceived as tribal groups living within the orbit of civilization by the Hindu royalty, Kirant indigenists wish to reverse this perception. They insist that in ancient times the Kirant had built a brilliant civilization which was then destroyed by Indo-Nepalese military expansion. We can see how this reinvented past legitimizes in their eyes the claims of this lost nation which should have been their heritage. Debates about history go hand in hand with a 'revitalization' or re-invention of ritual traditions. It appears, therefore, that from these discussions about history come other, more vindictive actions, such as the defense of cultural, political, economic and territorial rights. ; Cet article porte sur la (ré)écriture de l'histoire des Kirant du Népal oriental, à partir de livres, feuillets, articles qui sont localement produits et largement diffusés. Les acteurs de cette production récente de nouvelles histoires sont, ce que j'appelle des intellectuels « indigénistes », c'est-à-dire des représentants de l'ensemble kirant, appartenant à une classe moyenne urbanisée et éduquée, et qui ont adopté un style académique afin de poser leur historiographie comme scientifique, et par là vraie. Ces nouvelles formes de production de l'histoire se présentent comme des alternatives aux ...
International audience ; This article deals with the (re) writing of Kirant history in East Nepal, using books, pamphlets and locally written and widely read articles. The actors of this recent production of new histories are what I call 'indigenist' intellectuals. They are representatives of the Kirant population and belonging to an urbanized and educated middle-class. These indigenists have adopted an academic style in order to present their historiography as science and, as a consequence, truth. These new forms of historical production are seen as alternatives to the national standard versions which are perceived by the indigenists as false and biased in favor of high caste Indo-Nepalese. Although up till now the Kirant were commonly perceived as tribal groups living within the orbit of civilization by the Hindu royalty, Kirant indigenists wish to reverse this perception. They insist that in ancient times the Kirant had built a brilliant civilization which was then destroyed by Indo-Nepalese military expansion. We can see how this reinvented past legitimizes in their eyes the claims of this lost nation which should have been their heritage. Debates about history go hand in hand with a 'revitalization' or re-invention of ritual traditions. It appears, therefore, that from these discussions about history come other, more vindictive actions, such as the defense of cultural, political, economic and territorial rights. ; Cet article porte sur la (ré)écriture de l'histoire des Kirant du Népal oriental, à partir de livres, feuillets, articles qui sont localement produits et largement diffusés. Les acteurs de cette production récente de nouvelles histoires sont, ce que j'appelle des intellectuels « indigénistes », c'est-à-dire des représentants de l'ensemble kirant, appartenant à une classe moyenne urbanisée et éduquée, et qui ont adopté un style académique afin de poser leur historiographie comme scientifique, et par là vraie. Ces nouvelles formes de production de l'histoire se présentent comme des alternatives aux ...
Sparta und Olympia waren zwei "Topoi" des nationalsozialistischen Griechenlandbildes, die nicht nur ideologisch resp. politisch instrumentalisiert, sondern vom NS-Staat auch ganz real als Grabungsstätten usurpiert wurden. Sparta als Archetypus eines völkisch-totalitären Rassenstaates konnte einerseits das vermeintliche Entwicklungsgesetz der Geschichte als Abfolge von "Artentfaltung" und "Entartung" verifizieren, andererseits als Leitbild eines artgerechten Staatswesens und damit als politisches Vorbild für einen nationalsozialistischen Staat dienen. Vor Ort wurden nach der Besetzung Griechenlands 1941 die SS-Forschungs- und Lehrgemeinschaft Das Ahnenerbe und das Amt Rosenberg archäologisch tätig. Olympia wurde ideologisch-politisch erst aus Anlass der XI. Olympischen Spiele 1936 entdeckt; die olympische Idee wurde zur Demonstration eigener Friedfertigkeit missbraucht und die Spiele gelangten als völkisches Fest der Wehrertüchtigung in das nationalsozialistische Geschichtsbild. Der politische An-spruch wurde in der 1937 mit Mitteln aus Hitlers persönlichen Verfügungsmitteln wieder aufgenommenen "Führergrabung" vor Ort manifest.
The literature on Judges reveals a growing body of insights into its structure and arrangement, and the social dynamics and theology of the eras of its events and (later) composition. At the same time, there is continual search for greater understanding of these features of the book. Rhetorical criticism furnishes a promising approach to discovering the structure of the Jephthah stories, when used with genre-identification aspects of form criticism. The five Jephthah narratives are a loosely integrated, but symmetrically arranged sequence. The first and fifth narratives are rhetorically designed to pair with each other; the second and fourth are similarly designed, but also feature the correlated motifs of Jephthah's rise and fall. Between them lies a diplomatic speech of Jephthah which embodies the regular kerygma of ancient Israel, here pressed in to the service of Jephthah's effort at peaceful settlement of Ammonite aggression through diplomacy. Thus, the Jephthah stories are symmetrically arranged. The thematic over-arch is the establishment of a single-head government in Gilead under conditions of national repentance, foreign threat, and elders' treaty; this movement is finally frustrated by tragedy, however. The remainder of the book of Judges has been composed by pursuing this matching-pairs technique all the way to the outer edges. Thus the Jephthah series is framed by the two minor judge portions, these in turn by the Gideon-Samson blocks, and these again in turn by chaps. 4-5 and 17-18. Finally chaps. 1-3 and 19-21 are coordinated. A new understanding of the structure of Judges thus emerges from this study of the Jep'uthah series and its implications. The most likely historical setting for the composition of Judges is the Solomonic Era when the problems Israel faced in the Judges Era again emerged. The editors approved of single-head rule legitimated by elders' treaty, but warned of idolatry, foreign dominion, and internal disruption. When the Deuteronomistic History was assembled in the Exilic Era, Judges became part of that history. Jephthah and the other charismatic judges came to be seen as forerunners, not only of the monarchy, but of the later, equally charismatic prophetic movement.
International audience ; Michael Vickery's recent Society, Economics and Politics in Pre-Angkor Cambodia. The 7th-8th Centuries, the first book to deal thoroughly with a key period of Ancient Cambodia, will remain as a fundamental contribution to Khmer studies. The methodological and theoretical renewal claimed by the author, however, is not free of some schematism, particularly when he ranks the sources for their value in reconstructing Khmer history. His prejudiced distrust of Chinese texts leads him to disregard a substantial part of the information that they can provide. The present article, resorting to modern sinological criticism, is mostly meant as an attempt to rehabilitate such Chinese sources. Beyond a critical assessment of Vickery's commonly rigid opinions, it shows how the repeatedly distorted portrayal of Chinese sources betrays the culturalist views lingering behind concepts in use in recent historiographic research on Southeast Asia to deal with cross representations of China, India, and Southeast Asia. ; Le récent ouvrage de Michael Vickery, Society, Economics and Politics in Pre-Angkor Cambodia. The 7th-8th Centuries, le premier à traiter de façon systématique une période essentielle de l'histoire du Cambodge ancien, est appelé à faire date dans le paysage des études khmères. Le renouvellement théorique et méthodologique revendiqué par l'auteur n'est toutefois pas exempt d'un certain schématisme, en particulier lorsque celui-ci définit une hiérarchie des sources utiles à l'histoire du pays khmer, car le soupçon de principe porté sur les textes chinois le conduit à écarter une part importante de l'information transmise par ces textes. Le présent article, avant tout une tentative de réhabilitation des sources chinoises, a recours aux acquis de la critique sinologique moderne. Il veut montrer, au-delà du compte rendu des positions souvent tranchées de Vickery, comment le portrait parfois caricatural des sources chinoises révèle la part de culturalisme qui subsiste dans les notions manipulées par ...
