Violent Upheavals, State Legitimation, and the Evolving Politics of Elite Families in Early Modern East Asia

Session Submission Type: Organized Panel

Abstract

In pre-modern societies, a circumscribed group of powerful or eminent families generally constituted the central nexus of the sociopolitical order. Their status and power made them critical allies (or enemies) of a state seeking to enhance its prestige or extend its authority. Beyond this generality, however, we believe there existed across East Asia a remarkable diversity in the relationships between elite families and the political regimes that sought to govern them. Moreover, we believe that better understanding this diversity in the context of a comparative framework is critical for gaining a better grasp on how East Asian states and societies developed over time. This panel brings together papers on Tang-Song China, Chosŏn Korea, and Late Warring States Japan to explore how elite families evolved as political entities in the wake of particularly momentous changes in political regimes. How did political elites adapt and redefine themselves to maintain (or gain) relevance under a new political order? How did new regimes exploit these families in novel ways in their own search for political control and legitimacy? The panel’s presentations span nearly seven centuries and three regions, grapple with both short-term and long-term transformations, and range methodologically from genealogical to quantitative GIS analysis, in an attempt to highlight both recurring phenomena and historical specificities in the evolving politics of elite families in East Asia.

Area of Study

• Interarea-Border Crossing

Session Organizer

• David Spafford, University of Pennsylvania

Individual Presentations

• Elite Families, Political Legitimation, and the Geography of Power across the Tang-Song Transition - Nick Tackett, University of California, Berkeley

• Persecution and Rehabilitation of the Kaesŏng Wang in Early Chosŏn Korea - Eugene Park, University of Pennsylvania

• Battle, Regime Change, and Periodization as Family Crises before and after Sekigahara - David Spafford, University of Pennsylvania

Discussants

• Anne Walthall, University of California, Irvine

• Paul Jakov Smith, Haverford College