The Refugium in Eurasian History and its Spatiality
Thursday, October 17th, 2019
| Date | Time | Location |
|---|---|---|
| Thursday, October 17, 2019 | 5:00PM - 7:00PM | External Event, Natalie Zemon Davis Room 2098 Sidney Smith Hall 100 St. George Street |
Series
Seminar in Ottoman & Turkish Studies
Description
The term refugium—yet to be properly defined—has been used by scholars to denote areas where safety from enemies owing to remoteness or difficulty of access provided long-term security that allowed for polity-formation (no connection to refugium as a medieval village fortification). Often a degree of sacredness is said to have been ascribed to refugia by their possessors. Examples of refugia on the Eurasian steppe: north of the Göbi Desert for the Asiatic Huns (Hiung-nu), Rouran (“Avars”), and Gök Türks; Yeti-su/Semirechye (Lake Balkash basin) for the West Türk Qaganate; Blue Forest on the Samara River (Ukraine) for Qipchaqs/Polovtsians; Burqan Qaldun Mountain for the Mongols of Chinggis Khan. Other possible refugia: the lower Dnieper River below its rapids (Zaporozhia) where the genesis of Ukrainian cossackdom occurred; Scandinavia (“Scandza Island”) for the Goths; Gerrhus for the Scythians. This seminar will survey the sources and spaces, query the reality of refugia as opposed to simple refuges, and explore aspects of spatiality.
Sponsored by the Departments of History and of Near and Middle Eastern Civilizations and by the Centre for European, Russian, and Eurasian Studies
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