Book contents
- Rome, China, and the Barbarians
- Rome, China, and the Barbarians
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Maps
- Maps
- Acknowledgments
- A Note to the Reader
- Introduction
- Chapter 1 Ethnography in the Classical Age
- Chapter 2 The Barbarian and Barbarian Antitheses
- Chapter 3 Ethnography in a Post-Classical Age
- Chapter 4 New Emperors and Ethnographic Clothes
- Chapter 5 The Confluence of Ethnographic Discourse and Political Legitimacy
- Conclusion
- Bibliography
- Index
Chapter 5 - The Confluence of Ethnographic Discourse and Political Legitimacy
Rhetorical Arguments on the Legitimacy of Barbarian Kingdoms
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 16 April 2020
- Rome, China, and the Barbarians
- Rome, China, and the Barbarians
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Maps
- Maps
- Acknowledgments
- A Note to the Reader
- Introduction
- Chapter 1 Ethnography in the Classical Age
- Chapter 2 The Barbarian and Barbarian Antitheses
- Chapter 3 Ethnography in a Post-Classical Age
- Chapter 4 New Emperors and Ethnographic Clothes
- Chapter 5 The Confluence of Ethnographic Discourse and Political Legitimacy
- Conclusion
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
The preceding two chapters discussed the presence of ethnographic discourse in representation of the barbarian peoples and individuals who had come to rule portions of the former Roman and Chinese empires. Thus far, a central focus has been the ways in which Procopius and the historians of the Jin shu 晉書 offer critical evaluations of individual barbarian actors and the presence or absence of ethnographic rhetoric in those assessments. An underlying theme that has run throughout the discussion is the question of political legitimacy and its relationship to assumptions inherent in the respective bodies of ethnological discourse. While the preceding chapters have focused more on general forms of ethnic or individual representation, this chapter will address the question of political legitimacy directly: How was political legitimacy conceived of in Rome and China in this period and to what degree did perceptions of ethnic identity function as criteria in its construction and articulation?
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Rome, China, and the BarbariansEthnographic Traditions and the Transformation of Empires, pp. 257 - 310Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2020