Borders, Barriers, and Ethnogenesis
Frontiers in Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages
Edited by Florin Curta
This collection addresses current shifts in the social and cultural construction of borders as they relate to the medieval period.
This collection addresses an audience of early medievalists with an interest in material culture and its use in building ethnic boundaries. The traditional concept of frontier is one of current debate by historians and archaeologists alike, but sometimes without reference to each other. For instance, the social and cultural construction of (political) frontiers remains outside the current focus of post-processualist archaeology, despite the significance of borders for the representation of power, one of the most popular topics with archaeologists interested in symbols and ideology. Similarly, historians of the early Middle Ages have only recently developed an interest in the political manipulation of cultural difference across state frontiers. Perhaps the most interesting aspect of this new direction of research is the emphasis on political frontiers as crucial for the creation, rather than separation, of ethnic configurations. Recent work on the relation between monastic communities and political frontiers has shown the potential for a study of frontier symbolism. The idea of the present volume grew out of the realization that there was a great deal of new work being done in this direction which deserved a wider audience. This was true both of studies of late antique frontiers and of more recent research on medieval frontier societies. In addition, several authors address the issue of religious identities and their relations with ethnicity and state ideology. In that respect, the book is directed to a large audience, particularly because of its wide geographical range, from Iberia and the Balkans to Cilicia and Iran.
- Edited by Florin Curta
Other Titles in this Series
Poetics of Wonder
Testimonies of the New Christian Miracles in the Late Antique Latin World
Volume 31
Crisis of the Oikoumene
The Three Chapters and the Failed Quest for Unity in the Sixth-Century Mediterranean
Volume 14
Beginning of Scandinavian Settlement in England
The Viking 'Great Army' and Early Settlers, c. 865-900
Volume 29
Text, Image, Interpretation
Studies in Anglo-Saxon Literature and its Insular Context in Honour of Eamonn O Carragain
Volume 18
Settlements and Strongholds in Early Medieval England
Texts, Landscapes, and Material Culture
Volume 45
Churches and Social Power in Early Medieval Europe
Integrating Archaeological and Historical Approaches
Volume 42
Duelling with the Past
Medieval Authors and the Problem of the Christian Era (c. 990-1135)
Volume 21
England and the Continent in the Tenth Century
Studies in Honour of Wilhelm Levison (1876-1947)
Volume 37
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