Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant: Java Colonial Encounters

博士论文改进补助金：Java 殖民地遭遇

• 批准号: 1332996
• 负责人: Robert Murowchick
• 金额: $ 2.46万
• 依托单位: Trustees of Boston University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2013
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2013-08-15 至 2015-07-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1332996&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Doctoral; Dissertation; Improvement; Grant; Java

Food is a biological necessity, but it also assumes important dynamic social functions and cultural symbolic values. To understand the nature of interaction among early cultures, the analysis of archaeologically recovered food remains can reveal important insights into social relationships, power negotiations, and cultural adaptation that complement - and sometimes correct - the often biased and incomplete historical records. The use of food in power negotiations and boundary making can be especially enlightening when examining cultural interaction in colonial settings, where a complex array of political, economic, and social differences must be untangled. In this project, Ms. Kaoru Ueda of Boston University (BU), under the guidance of Dr. Robert Murowchick, will conduct archaeological excavations and analysis of food and food-related remains from one of history's most important colonial encounters, that of the Dutch East India Company (or VOC) in Southeast Asia during the 17th and 18th centuries. As a powerful economic engine, the VOC greatly impacted European international relationships and global empire-building efforts. Importantly, it also left a legacy of colonial and post-colonial politics that still resonates today in one of the most culturally diverse and economically important regions of Asia. This project will focus on the powerful Islamic sultanate located at Banten, Java, Indonesia, and the key Dutch forts and trading centers that were built there to establish and maintain VOC control over this highly lucrative spice trade. Because of the subjectivity of existing historical records, the nature of the cross-cultural interaction between these local elites and the Dutch at Banten has been poorly understood. The archaeological research of sites at Banten will provide an objective and revealing tool with which to evaluate Indonesian-European cultural interactions in this early phase of global trade. Banten is an important and unique colonial case study, different from the Americas, because Europeans were only one of many foreign merchant groups in this prominent cosmopolitan city at the beginning of their encounter. This new data will advance our understanding of early colonialism around the world.The proposed research will have a broad impact beyond its specific research topics. The project will foster collaborative research and training among Indonesian, Singaporean, and American archaeologists and students in one of the most archaeologically under-studied regions of the world. It will improve the practice of historical archaeology in Indonesia by introducing young local archaeologists to new analytical techniques, such as the study of plant silica remains from archaeological soil samples to better understand past diets (a method particularly useful in the tropics, where ancient organic remains rarely survive). These new materials will improve the collections of BU's Environmental Archaeology Laboratory and provide analytical training to BU's undergraduate and graduate students.The project focuses on the evolving relationship between Muslim and European societies in the early modern world, a relationship of obvious importance today. The results of fieldwork at Banten, one of Indonesia's most revered Islamic sites in the world's most populous Muslim-majority country, will be made available to the public through publication in refereed journals, presentations at academic conferences in the US and abroad, and in bilingual exhibitions in Banten's local on-site museum. The results of this research are already fostering international scholarly exchanges in the U.S., Indonesia, Singapore, Taiwan, and Japan through presentation of conference papers, as well as increasing public awareness of early colonial history in this spice trading center through Massachusetts Archaeology Month events each October.

食物是一种生物必需品，但它也承担着重要的动态社会功能和文化象征价值。为了理解早期文化之间相互作用的本质，对考古发现的食物遗骸的分析可以揭示对社会关系、权力谈判和文化适应的重要见解，这些见解补充--有时是正确的--往往有偏见和不完整的历史记录。当考察殖民地环境中的文化互动时，在权力谈判和边界划分中使用食物尤其具有启发性，在殖民地环境中，必须解决一系列复杂的政治，经济和社会差异。在这个项目中，波士顿大学（BU）的上田女士将在Robert Murowchick博士的指导下，对17和18世纪荷兰东印度公司（VOC）在东南亚历史上最重要的殖民遭遇之一的食物和食物相关遗迹进行考古发掘和分析。作为一个强大的经济引擎，东印度公司极大地影响了欧洲的国际关系和全球帝国建设的努力。重要的是，它也留下了殖民和后殖民政治的遗产，今天仍然在亚洲文化最多样化和经济最重要的地区之一产生共鸣。该项目将重点关注位于印度尼西亚爪哇万丹的强大的伊斯兰苏丹国，以及在那里建立的主要荷兰贸易中心，以建立和维持VOC对这种利润丰厚的香料贸易的控制。由于现有历史记录的主观性，这些地方精英和荷兰人在万丹的跨文化互动的性质一直知之甚少。对万丹遗址的考古研究将提供一个客观和揭示性的工具，以评估在全球贸易的早期阶段的匈牙利-欧洲文化互动。万丹是一个重要而独特的殖民案例研究，与美洲不同，因为欧洲人在相遇之初只是这个著名的国际大都市的众多外国商人群体之一。这些新数据将促进我们对世界各地早期殖民主义的理解。拟议的研究将产生超出其具体研究主题的广泛影响。该项目将促进印度尼西亚，新加坡和美国考古学家和学生在世界上考古学研究最不足的地区之一的合作研究和培训。 该项目将通过向当地年轻考古学家介绍新的分析技术来改进印度尼西亚的历史考古实践，例如研究考古土壤样本中的植物硅残留物，以更好地了解过去的饮食（这一方法在热带地区特别有用，因为那里的古代有机残留物很少存活）。这些新材料将改善BU的环境考古实验室的收藏，并为BU的本科生和研究生提供分析培训。该项目侧重于现代早期世界穆斯林和欧洲社会之间不断发展的关系，这种关系在今天显然很重要。万丹是世界上人口最多的穆斯林占多数的国家中印度尼西亚最受尊敬的伊斯兰遗址之一，实地考察的结果将通过在参考期刊上发表，在美国和国外的学术会议上发表，以及在万丹当地博物馆的双语展览中向公众提供。这项研究的成果已经在美国促进了国际学术交流，印度尼西亚、新加坡、台湾和日本，通过提交会议论文，以及通过每年10月的马萨诸塞州考古月活动，提高公众对这个香料贸易中心早期殖民历史的认识。