"Recently a tendency to reverse this part of the historical model has been gaining momentum. In general, the positing of intercultural diffusion has gone out of fashion, as the pressures of the postcolonial era have confronted scholarship with a demand for special care in matters which might be interpreted as implying cultural hierarchy. Explanations of changes in ancient cultures through migration theory have given way to accounts that stress âindigenous cultural development.â An Indian scholar brings out the postcolonial issue: âWhile most of them [past scholars] broadly belonged, in one way or the other, to the School of Hyper-diffusionism initiated by Elliot Smith, locating the birth of Civilization at one or two places only, such as Egypt and Mesopotamia, some of us totally reject it and call it as [sic] âhangoverâ of Imperialism of some European countries with no substance in it.â Witzel concurs about the change in scholarly attitude, saying, âThere has been, recently, a strong reaction against the invocation of external agents of change, such as migration and diffusion.â But he goes on to suggest doubts about this reaction, saying, âHowever, that such forces [as migration and diffusion] were operating in the past is clear from innumerable historical examples.â"
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Hyperdiffusionism
1 quote on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Hyperdiffusionism â
Related Quotes
"Much prime settlement land from 20,000 BC to 5,600 BC is now underwater. Archaeological concentration on land gives aâŚ"
"The national museum in Kabul which was inaugurated in 1924 and the most important repository of the excavated materiaâŚ"
"Dupreeâs analysis clearly suggests that âthe museum was not plundered by rampaging gangs of illiterate Mujahideenâ. TâŚ"
"While I have seen a few museum pieces for sale in Afghanistan, there are a number of artifacts on the market that havâŚ"
"You have to remember that the items that have been stolen from the Museum or have been plundered, are not owned by onâŚ"
"The unsettled political conditions apparently encouraged clandestine diggings, and it seems that the ancient BactrianâŚ"
"A cultural tradition refers to persistent configurations of basic technologies and cultural systems within the contexâŚ"
"Archaeological cultures should not be viewed as homogeneous or growing like plants from single seeds; they are alwaysâŚ"
"Reliance upon migrations as the principal agent of social change has been typical of Russian archaeological interpretâŚ"
"Almost all anthropologists working on the Indian material have been having these archetypes ' before their mind , witâŚ"