Ethnicity, Ethnogenesis, and Barbarism in Archaeology

Pre-requisites: A working knowledge of English to understand the assigned texts.

Course objectives: The aim of the course is to introduce students to theories on interpreting past ethnicities, accompanied by discussion based on differing case studies in varying cultural contexts.

Course description: The idea of the “barbarian” is one of the key bases used to conceptualize and treat the “other” in Europe’s past. This course follows the long history of the idea of the “barbarian”, commencing from the Ancient Greek, to the Roman, up till its Medieval and Byzantine perception. Special attention is paid to its ideological misuse through nationalistic and colonial view, particularly regarding the idea of continuity and ethnogenesis.

Learning Outcomes:

Literature/Reading:

• Babić, Staša. 2008. “Grci, varvari i arheolozi – karte kontakata”. U: Grci i Drugi: Antička percepcija i percepcija antike, 71-88. Beograd: Klio.
• Babić, Staša. 2010. Arheologija i etnicitet. Etnoantropološki problemi 5(1): 139‒147.
• Brather, Sebastian. 2002. “Ethnic Identities as Constructions of Archaeology: The Case od Alamanni”. In On Barbarian Identity – Critical Approaches to Ethnicity in the Early Middle Ages, 149‒175.
• Curta, Florin. 2002. “From Kossinna to Bromley: Ethnogenesis in Slavic Archaeology”. In On Barbarian Identity. Critical Approaches to Ethnicity in the Early Middle Ages, 201–218.
• Džino, Danijel. 2014. Constructing Illyrians: Prehistoric Inhabitants of the Balkan Peninsula in Early Modern and Modern Perceptions. Balkanistica 27: 1‒39.
• Geary, Patrik. 2007. Mit o nacijama: srednjovekovno poreklo Evrope. Novi Sad: Cenzura.
• Jones, Siân. 1997. The Archaeology of Ethnicity: Constructing Identities in the Past and Present. London: Routledge (1-14).
• Kuzmanović, Zorica. 2013. Repozicioniranje uloge antičkih pisanih izvora u arheologiji. Etnoantropološki problemi 8(3): 763‒778.
• Mac Sweeney, Naoise. 2009. Beyond Ethnicity: The Overlooked Diversity of Group Identities. Journal of Mediterranean Archaeology 22: 101-126.
• Mihajlović, Vladimir, D. 2014. “Tracing ethnicity backwards: the case of the ‘Central Balkan Tribes’”. In Fingerprints the Iron Age, 97–107. Oxford: Oxbow Books.
• Putinja, Filip i Žoslin Stref-Fenar. 1997. Teorije o etnicitetu. Beograd: Biblioteka XX vek.
• Smit, Entoni. 1999. „Zlatno doba” i nacionalni preporod. Reč, časopis za književnost, kulturu, i društvena pitanja 56: 93‒110.
• Voss, B. 2015. What’s new? Rethinking Ethnogenesis in the Archaeology of Colonialism. American Antiquity 80 (4): 655-670.
• Anderson, Benedikt. 1990. Nacija: zamišljena zajednica ‒ Razmatranja o porijeklu i širenju nacionalizma. Zagreb: Školska knjiga.
• Inđić, Trivo. 2002. „Uvod: Las Kasas i zajednica slobodnih i jednakih”. U Kratak izveštaj o uništavanju Indija, ur. Jagoš Đuretić, 5‒12. Beograd: Filip Višnjić.
• Lucy, Sam. 2005. Ethnic and Cultural Identities. In: The Archaeology of Identity: Approaches to Gender, Age, Status, Ethnicity and Religion, , 86-109. London: Routledge.
• Mihajlović, Vladimir, D. 2015. Problem kulturnih odnosa lokalnih zajednica i rimske države: studija slučaja na prostoru pripisanom Skordiscima, doktorska disertacija. Beograd: Filozofski fakultet.