GENDISC · Gender Discrimination in the Tarim Basin
Horizon 2020 — Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions
- Duration
- 2021-11-01 → 2023-10-31
- EU contribution
- €166,320
- Participants
- 1
- Scheme
- MSCA-IF
Lines connect the coordinator with its partners.
Results in brief
Gender Discrimination in the Tarim Basin
The GENDISC project examined a collection of over 900 documents and document fragments written in the South Asian Kharoshthi script and discovered at sites in the Tarim Basin, now located in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of China. These documents, referred to as the Niya Documents because the majority were discovered in proximity to this settlement, were mainly administrative in nature and most date to between the 2nd and 4th centuries CE. The documents, along with other archaeological discoveries, attest to the cultural, religious, and ethnic diversity of the region. A significant number of the documents detail complaints made to the ruling king, which then became legal cases for local officials to investigate. The project proposal identified a gap in research on these documents, finding that, whilst politics, trade and religion are well-studied, there has been little examination of ancient society in the Tarim Basin because the sources are viewed as limited. GENDISC aimed to challenge this assumption by addressing social issues raised as legal disputes in the Niya Documents, including witchcraft allegations, cases involving assault, violence and murder, attempted infanticide and the adoption of children, and marriage transactions. The overall aim was to identify incidents of gender bias and discrimination in the Niya Documents and contextualise these using other documents and texts from within and beyond the Tarim Basin. The overall objective was to contribute to a better understanding of social issues in Silk Road communities, a neglected aspect in research.
Data: CORDIS, © European Union
Project objective
The Tarim Basin in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of China was strategic on the ancient Silk Road. Expeditions by European explorers in the 19th and 20th centuries found ruins of ancient oases settlements around the circumference of the Taklamakan Desert. Amongst the ruins were artefacts, many documents and manuscripts written in different scripts and languages, some previously unknown. All attest to the cultural, religious and ethnic diversity of the region. The focus of GENDISC is on the Niya Documents, a collection of approximately 1000 documents and document fragments dating to around the 3rd century CE found around the southern Tarim Basin, but mainly around the Niya ruins. Three-quarters of the documents were written in the South Asian Kharosthi script and Gandhari language, earlier used in ancient Pakistan, Afghanistan and north India for inscriptions, manuscripts and coins. Whilst politics, trade and religion are well-studied, there has been little examination of ancient society in the Tarim Basin because the sources are viewed as limited. GENDISC will challenge this assumption by addressing social issues raised as legal disputes in the Niya Documents, including infanticide, adoption, witchcraft allegations, slavery, murder and marriage transactions. It will identify gender roles (O1), the types of legal cases (O2) and the wider context of issues (O3), and will take a statistical and etymological approach (WP1), study religious texts (WP2) and examine other Tarim Basin documents (WP3) to establish if the documents are indicative of gender biases and discrimination. GENDISC is interdisciplinary, incorporating studies of language, religion, gender, society and law within the broader field of archaeology and Asian studies. It is trans-regional in scope and will identify connections between now politically- and culturally-sensitive territories. The findings will be disseminated through conferences, seminars, workshops, articles and a blog.
Original text from CORDIS.
Participants
- UNIVERSITE CATHOLIQUE DE LOUVAIN · LOUVAIN LA NEUVECoordinatorBelgium
Links
Data: CORDIS, © European Union