PAIXUE: Classicising Learning in Medieval Imperial Systems: Cross-cultural Approaches to Byzantine Paideia and Tang/Song Xue
PAIXUE:Classicising Learning in Medieval Imperial Systems: Cross-cultural Approaches to Byzantine Paideiaand Tang/SongXue
n the
medieval Eurasian geopolitical space, Byzantium and China stand out as
two centralised imperial orders that drew on seemingly unbroken, in fact
purposely constructed, traditions of classicising learning. With
generous support from the European Research Council (ERC), the PAIXUE project
examines in tandem, with equal focus on structural parallels and
divergences, the conscious revival and subsequent dialectics of
classicising learning in middle and later Byzantium (c.800–1350)
and Tang/Song China (618–1279). Initially tied into aristocratic
culture, it became a tool by which the imperial state sought to
monopolise prestige and access to power so as to effectively channel the
activities of newly emerging burgeoning ‘middling’ strata into the
service of empire. As time progressed, it was also the basis upon which
these new elites constructed novel forms of subjectivity that claimed
authority and agency increasingly independent of the imperial state.
Seal of Mi Fu (1051–1107), poet, painter and collector of books,
MET 1977.78 PAIXUE
traces this evolution of classicising learning in Byzantine and
Tang/Song literati culture from two angles. The first examines the
galvanising function of social performances that involved classicising
learning in the imperial systems. The second places the individual
literatus centre-stage and explores the transformations of
self-awareness, ethos, and self-cultivation. Given PAIXUE’s concern with
examining phenomena cross-culturally in the longue-durée,
rather than merely juxtaposing ‘spotlight’ impressions, a comparison of
these two imperial systems does not only allow for deeper insights into
the historical development of both China and Byzantium: it opens the
possibility of studying cultural mechanisms behind the formation of
institutions, practices and values. The project explores novel forms of
collaboration in the humanities, including the co-authoring of research
output between Byzantinists and Sinologists. Byzantium, frequently
perceived as the ‘Other’ within western culture to the present day,
serves here to build meaningful bridges to (pre-modern) China.
The AWOL Index: The bibliographic data presented herein has been programmatically extracted from the content of AWOL - The Ancient World Online (ISSN 2156-2253) and formatted in accordance with a structured data model.
AWOL is a project of Charles E. Jones, Tombros Librarian for Classics and Humanities at the Pattee Library, Penn State University
AWOL began with a series of entries under the heading AWOL on the Ancient World Bloggers Group Blog. I moved it to its own space here beginning in 2009.
The primary focus of the project is notice and comment on open access material relating to the ancient world, but I will also include other kinds of networked information as it comes available.
The ancient world is conceived here as it is at the Institute for the Study of the Ancient World at New York University, my academic home at the time AWOL was launched. That is, from the Pillars of Hercules to the Pacific, from the beginnings of human habitation to the late antique / early Islamic period.
AWOL is the successor to Abzu, a guide to networked open access data relevant to the study and public presentation of the Ancient Near East and the Ancient Mediterranean world, founded at the Oriental Institute, University of Chicago in 1994. Together they represent the longest sustained effort to map the development of open digital scholarship in any discipline.
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