Gift and Gifting in Silk Road Diplomacy (IX-Xth Centuries)

Abstract

Historical and anthropological analysis of commodity exchange under gift status in the social and diplomatic structure according to the ethnographic model makes excellent contributions to understanding the evolutionary process of social structure and international relations. The determination of the symbolic and cultural value of gift-giving in the diplomacy-trade model that became perfect in the tenth and eleventh centuries AD on the Silk Road reveals the permeability between Silk Road societies, the process of building a standard trade model, and the existence of exchange not only in commercial but also in cultural and linguistic fields. Gifts were a prerequisite for establishing diplomatic relations, commercial mobility, and, in a sense, human and commodity motility on the Silk Road. The reception of diplomatic letters and embassies was shaped by the material and symbolic value of gift exchange; shared lexical roots across languages reflect this cultural practice. This study aims to explain, on an ethnographic and historical basis, the impact of tthe gift-giving tradition along the Silk Road, centred on Turfan, on the social structure, trade model, and diplomatic rules, and the economic changes caused by the gift through diplomatic, commercial or personal letters and records in the Dunhuang manuscripts.

Keywords

• ilk Road
• gift
• trade
• diplomacy
• Turfan
• Dunhuang

İpek Yolu Diplomasisinde Hediye ve Hediyeleşme (IX-X. Yüzyıllar)

Abstract

Hediye statüsü altında emtia takasının toplumsal ve diplomatik yapıda etnografik modele göre tarihsel ve antropolojik analizi sosyal yapının, uluslararası münasebetlerin evrimsel sürecini anlamlandırmaya büyük katkılar sunmaktadır. İpek Yolu’nda, MS IX-X. yüzyıllarda mütekamil bir hale gelen diplomasi-ticaret modelinde hediyeleşmenin sembolik ve kültürel değerinin tespiti, İpek Yolu toplumları arasındaki geçişkenliği, ortak ticaret modeli inşa sürecini ve alışverişin sadece ticari değil kültürel ve dilsel sahada da sürdürüldüğünü açığa çıkarır. Hediye, İpek Yolu’nda diplomatik ilişki kurmanın, ticari hareketliliğin bir bakıma insan ve emtia hareketliliğinin ön koşuluydu. Diplomatik mektupların itibarı ve elçilik kabulü, hediyeleşmenin maddi-sembolik değeriyle şekillenmiş; dillerdeki ortak terimler, bu kültürel pratiği yansıtmıştır. Bu çalışma, etnografik ve tarihi temelde, Dunhuang yazmaları içinde yer alan diplomatik, ticari yahut şahsi mektuplar ve kayıtlar üzerinden Turfan merkezli olmak üzere İpek Yolu boyunca hediyeleşme geleneğinin toplumsal yapı, ticaret modeli ve diplomatik kaideler üzerindeki etkisini, hediyenin ortaya çıkardığı ekonomik değişimleri izah etme amacındadır.

Keywords

• İpek Yolu
• hediye
• ticaret
• diplomasi
• Turfan
• Dunhuang

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