Ancient World Elites: Greece - Rome - China

Researchers: Professors Hans Beck and Griet Vankeerberghen

Sponsor:
Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (RDI)

Globalization has changed the organization of research and teaching in the Humanities. The composition of faculty and of the student body at North American universities has diversified and this process is accompanied by a transformation of both research topics and teaching curricula. Most eminently, at many universities 'Western civilization' courses gave way to offerings that apply a more multi-facetted approach to history, society and culture. While these developments are well under way, it is only gradually that we have come to realize that the current re-negotiation of concepts and contents requires a new approach towards the cultural foundations of human society. Our initiative attempts such an approach. We call for a sustained comparison of some of the most basic foundations of what is generally referred to as the 'Eastern' and 'Western' worlds: the political cultures of ancient China and the ancient Mediterranean. While aiming at the production of new academic knowledge, the proposed project also seeks to employ the knowledge of past cultures and make the academic dialogue between them relevant to the intellectual and moral reflections that accompany the forces of globalization.

Only recently have scholars begun to explore the creative potential of juxtaposing the cultural foundations of Europe and Asia. Despite its relative novelty, this area of study has already produced fascinating results, especially in the fields of science and medicine, philosophy and political theory. These investigations shed light on the cultural transfer of expert knowledge and the cross-cultural discourse on human rights. We hope to make a major contribution to this debate. Our focus on issues in social history and political culture sets our research apart from projects that are currently under way, while our emphasis on comparative aristocratic cultures is unique.

The research project embarks from the observation that ancient Mediterranean and Chinese societies were governed by the same features that were characteristic of other civilized pre-modern societies. Beyond the obvious differences in political organization (e.g., the small and democratic Greek city-state vis-à-vis the territorial empire of the Qin), both societies were dominated by what has been described as "an oligarchy lurking behind the façade [of government]" (Ronald Syme). This oligarchy or 'aristocracy,' to put it in descriptive terms, continued to assert its dominance over all other segments of society. This dominance can be understood as one that was determined by the exercise of power. However, recent scholarship points to the implicit assumptions of power, its inherent norms, sentiments, beliefs, as well as its symbolic representations. It elaborates on how ruling classes established distinction; how this distinction was driven by a certain ethos, notably the effort to master all kinds of crises (Max Weber); how elitism translated into power; and finally, how aristocratic power was articulated by means of a language of signs, gestures, and performances.

In order to provide for a meaningful comparative methodology, we examine three topical clusters that are central to the communication between ruling elites and ruled masses: people, places, performances. Other clusters will be added as the project unfolds. We start from our individual research specializations, as well as joint expertise as teaching team, and expect that the engagement with abstract clusters will enable us to develop a truly comparative dialogue. From our experience in the classroom we have learned how fascinated students are by cultural legacies other than their own. The 'Research Development Initiative' is designed to transform their, and our, academic curiosity into new intellectual discoveries. It is hoped that in the long run, the comparative knowledge on the cultural foundations of Europe and Asia will also help to facilitate the cultivation of a new type of social meaning.