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Mar 10, 2022 10 tweets 4 min read Read on X
(late) 🧵3 by @BennoWeiner for #TweetHistorians @HistoryCMU

When the CCP came to power in 1949 it insisted that China was a single, inseparable, multi-nationality state. But it also admitted that this vision of national unity was not reflective of reality on the ground. 1/ Image
Instead inter-community relations in many ethnocultural borderlands were marked by alienation, distrust, and violence. Party leaders made clear who was to blame. Ethnic DIS-unity was a legacy of what (borrowing from the USSR) they called 'Great Han chauvinism' (da Hanzu zhuyi) 2/ ImageImage
Mao and others insisted that disunity was caused by centuries of Han exploitation and discrimination against non-Han people. By crafting 'minorities' as historical victims of the Han majority, the CCP positioned itself as both 'savior' and 'liberator' of 'weaker nationalities'.3/ Image
If nationality disunity was caused by Han chauvinism, the solution was to eliminate HC. A second obstacle was "local nationalism" among 'minorities.' But because LN was considered a response to Han oppression, it would disappear naturally after Han chauvinism was eliminated. 4/ Image
So the CCP set out to prove to non-Han communities that it was different than previous Han regimes by promising equality, respect, prosperity, and to make them "masters of their own homes" via regional autonomy. But ending Han chauvinism was easier said than done. 5/ Image
As Uradyn Bulag and others have argued, Han chauvinism was baked into the CCP's DNA. Even while declaring the equality of nationalities, each was placed on a scale of evolutionary development from primitive to advanced with the Han at the the top, the 'vanguard nationality'. 6/
Essentially 'minority' culture was deemed incompatible with socialist modernity. Frustrated by the slow pace of change, in 1957 LN was declared to be an independent, even treasonous deviancy, far worse than HC, bent on sabotaging socialism and even dividing the nation. 7/
Having been officially equated with backwardness, feudalism, and/or separatism, from the Great Leap Forward through the Cultural Revolution many non-Han communities suffered tremendous violence against themselves and their cultural, religious, and linguistic heritage. 8/ ImageImage
HC was again criticized in the 1980s. Yet both the socialist and post-socialist projects in China are embedded within a quest for ethno-national salvation that ID's many non-Han people as backward (demanding Han-led development) and/or disloyal (demanding state-led discipline).9/
Terminologies have changed but under Xi Jinping the CCP again has openly embraced what was one called Han chauvinism while echoing earlier attacks on local nationalism by likening expressions of ethnocultural difference to existential threats to the Party and nation. 10/
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More from @Tweetistorian

Jul 3, 2022
Here is a thread recapping #palindrome history week for #TweetHistorians, courtesy of Mark Saltveit who reverts to @taoish now.

Monday, we started with a thread on the ancient sacred origins of palindromes as spells, curses and words of the gods. 1/7 -ms
Tuesday: Sotades the Obscene, inventor of palindromes, the Priapeia, sotadean metre and so much more. Also: the kinaidoi (effeminate dancers of Alexandria), Arsinoe the sex-positive proto-feminist queen, incestual royal marriage and sick burns. 2/7 -ms
Wednesday: later antique Greek palindromes from the oldest letter-by-letter verse (a school exercise in Tebtunis Egypt) through the Greek Anthology, Leo the Wise, Western Euopean baptismal fonts and Theodoros Prodromos. 3/7 -ms
Read 7 tweets
Jul 2, 2022
Day 6 of palindromic #TwitterHistorian @taoish Mark Saltveit's stint. Yesterday, the SATOR / ROTAS square. Today, "versus recurrentes" = Latin palindromic poetry, mostly 1 line. At #IMC2021, I argued that it was a continuous & self-referential genre from 2nd-15th c. CE.
1/12 -ms
I listed 42 but documenting is tricky. These were rarely in main texts. Most appeared in margins or on fly leaves, but repeated over the centuries. Theory: these were transmitted by teachers, esp. of scribes, and passed via wax tablets, memory & pen tests (federproben).
2/12 -ms Slide from Mark Saltveit's talk at the International MedievaA second slide from Mark Saltveit's talk at the Internationa
The classic (and first known) Latin verse #palindrome is a dactylic pentameter: "Roma tibi subito motibus ibit amor." Sidonius Apollinaris (ep. 9.14, ~480 CE) called it ancient. It's on a roof tile from Aquincum dated 107 CE next to a ROTAS square & at Ostia (200 CE). 3/12 -ms Roof tile from Aquincum, Pannonia (near modern day Budapest,The text of that portion of Sidonius Apollinaris' letter to St. Gall MS 889 with "Roma tibi subito motibus ibit amoRoma Tibi graffito at Ostia, from Guarducci
Read 15 tweets
Jul 2, 2022
Day 4 of #TweetHistorian Mark Saltveit @taoish's look at #palindromes. Thursday we viewed palindromic forms in non-European languages, a sadly neglected topic. "Today": the SATOR / ROTAS square, attested 4x in the first c. CE: 3x at Pompeii, 1x at Conimbriga in Portugal. 1/12 -ms The oldest known ROTAS squa...The third ROTAS square foun...ROTAS square graffito from ...ROTAS square on a brick fou...
It's the Hollywood celebrity of #palindromes, thx to Chris Nolan's film TENET. It starts at an OPERA. ROTAS is the time reversal machine. TENET is the name of the conspiracy. Andrei SATOR is the villain. Thomas AREPO is an art forger we never see. 2/12 -ms beyondwordplay.com/palindromes-at… John David Washington, ex-p...TENET's director Christophe...Promotional poster for the ...A promotional image for the...
This square is an image, a graphic composed of letters, arguably the world's first and most successful meme. Calling it a Latin sentence (SATOR AREPO TENET OPERA ROTAS, or the reverse) is a hypothesis with v. little historical support. AREPO is not a Latin word or name. 3/12 -ms ROTAS stone now embedded in...
Read 16 tweets
May 22, 2022
Day 7.

Let's try to tie this all together. Yesterday, we looked at how the spread of monotheism to South Arabia impacted its political sphere. Today, let's take a look at South Arabia during the early Islamic period.

~ik
Yesterday I mentioned how the Ethiopian Aksumites invaded South Arabia and installed a local Christian ruler. Around 530 AD, it was followed by that of the Ethiopian general ʾAbraha.

However, ʾAbraha made sure to follow in the footsteps of his Himyaritic predecessors.

~ik In the Islamic tradition, Abraha is called ʾAbraha al-ʾAš
For example, he claimed the Himyarite royal title, had reparations made at the Marib dam, and continued to leave inscriptions in the Sabaic language. He also continued to wage campaigns in Central Arabia; the inscription mentioned day 5 is actually one of his!

~ik
Read 18 tweets
May 21, 2022
Day 6.

Yesterday, we looked at what the Amirite and Himyarite inscriptions tell us about the linguistic landscape of South Arabia in the late pre-Islamic period.

Now, let's look at the socio-political environment during the same period.

~ik ImageImage
The 3rd century AD saw an intensification of relations between South Arabia and the Mediterranean/Levant. These statues depicting the Himyaritic rulers Ḏamarʿalī Yuhabirr and his son, Ṯaʾban are a fantastic example of this cultural exchange.

~ik Image
The statues show a coalescence of Hellenistic and South Arabian features: their nudity and the headbands typical ot former, the long hair and the moustache, ot the latter.

Also: the sculptors left their signature on the statues' knees, showing Hellenistic/SA collaboration.

~ik ImageImageImage
Read 12 tweets
May 20, 2022
Day 5 – slightly delayed.

Today, let's look more at the Himyarites and the language of their inscriptions. They reveal some more important clues about South Arabia's linguistic landscape during the late pre-Islamic period. ~ik
The Himyarites became the main political force in S-A around 300 AD. Around 280 AD, the Himyarite ruler Yāsir Yuhanʿim conquered the Sabaeans; his successor Šammar Yuharʿiš took parts of Ḥaḍramawt. By the early 4th century all of Ḥaḍramawt had been conquered ~ik
The Himyarites' success is reflected in the language of the inscriptions. From the 4th to the 6th centuries, all the S-A inscriptions are written in what we call Late Sabaic.

The differences are both linguistic and paleographic. ~ik Middle Sabaic inscription CIAS 95.11/j 4 n° 1 Late Sabaic inscription Gar Sharahbil A
Read 16 tweets

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