Another year down, and another set of incredible contributions to highlight. While every member of the community, from the prolific writers to the quietest lurkers, play a critical role and are deserving of a shoutout for what they contribute to making it such a great place, at the same time there are always some true standouts. So now the votes have been cast, and counted, and it is time for us to throw the spotlight onto a few of the most deserving of answers that we enjoyed reading this past year!
As always winners are in line for some awesome AskHistorians Swag, and we'll be in touch shortly about getting it to you if you are a winner!
Flairs' Choice Awards
1st: "Is White Europe a myth?", answer by /u/Kelpie-Cat
2nd: "Pekka Hämäläinen writes in Lakota America that the 17th-century Haudenosaunee socially "adopted" their war prisoners to replace their own dead. What did that look like? How far did they commit to the change of identity?" answer by /u/anthropology_nerd
3rd: "Did the USSR actually like the aesthetic of their architecture or was it a form of subliminal propaganda?", answer by u/Cedric_Hampton
Dark Horse: "Battles in Mesoamerica often used religious artifacts and in some cases "Owl Men" who would cast magic onto the battle field. The Owl Men were even sent against Cortes. What exactly would these mystics do to cast their spells and how did it tie into the religion?", dual answers by /u/Islacoatl and /u/quedfoot
Users' Choice Awards
1st: "What would the odds be of Dua Lipa actually surviving the sinking of the Titanic?", answer by /u/YourlocalTitanicguy
2nd: "Did x- rays reveal a hidden epidemic of child abuse?", answer /u/critbuild
3rd: "The preservation of Pompeii seems like an absolutely absurd bit of luck for archaeologists and historians studying the Roman empire at its height, are there comparable sites for other Ancient civilizations in places like China, India or the Middle East?", answer by /u/bem-ti-vi
Dark Horse: "Halsey acted foolishly", answer by /u/Myrmidon99
Greatest Question
1st: "The Iroquois established a representative, federal democracy that may have influenced America's constitution. Where can I learn more about Native American political philosophy?", asked by /u/johannesalthusius (And sadly unanswered, but perhaps you know it?)
2nd: "What is the cultural/historical background of sentient pink blobs in Japanese media (think Chansey, Clefairy, Jigglypuff, Kirby, Majin Buu)?", asked by /u/Ersatz_Okapi (and with an answer by /u/jbdyer and an answer by /u/forrestpen).
3rd: "I am a noble in a South Nigerian kingdom in the mid-19th century (a few decades before colonization). I have never left my kingdom but I am quite well-off by local standards. What are the living conditions like? How much do I know about the wider world outside West Africa?", asked by /u/KittyTack (and answered by /u/swarthmoreburke and by /u/thegreattreeguy)
Congratulations to the winners, to everyone nominated, and our eternal gratitude to everyone who contributed on their own way to giving another great year to /r/AskHistorians.
Woo! I have some more questions of that kind that I have been intending to post.
Sorry for the Nigerian prince joke bait, I wasn't even thinking of that when I wrote it lol.
My favorite question of the year was "The 1992 song "Baby Got Back" implies that White people in America disdained large female posteriors. Was this, in fact, the cultural norm at the time? And if so, to what degree, if any, did the song itself lead to a change in zeitgeist vis a vis derrieres?" But now I'd have to say that Dua Lipa question knocks it out of the water.
Here's to r/AskHistorians. And a "screw you" to all those who say we have no humor.
I want to send all my thanks and remind readers I was drinking alone when I wrote that.
I love a sub that honestly considers the merits of historical questions about both Native American political philosophy and Jigglypuff. Great job, everyone.
Whelp… looks like I know what I’m spending my day reading….
Everything
/u/YourlocalTitanicguy did a great job explaining whether Dua would survive, but what I really want to know is how fucked is the lobster? Pretty fucked, right?
Felicitaciones to all our magnificent winners!
Regarding /u/johannesalthusius question, I recently started reading The Dawn of Everything by David Graeber and David Wengrow, I haven't finished it yet, but one of the major themes is about how Europe's exposure to American Native's culture, politics, and ideology are what led to the Enlightenment's perceptions and concerns of Democracy, Freedom, and Equality. It isn't quite as in depth as I'd presume a book specifically on the subject would be, but it's an interesting romp and set of theories nonetheless.
To add on with my usual spiel, heartfelt congratz to /u/Kelpie-Cat, /u/anthropology_nerd, u/Cedric_Hampton
Re: 1st: "The Iroquois established a representative, federal democracy that may have influenced America's constitution. Where can I learn more about Native American political philosophy?", asked by /u/johannesalthusius (And sadly unanswered, but perhaps you know it?)
The original thread is archived, so cannot comment directly, but Graeber and Wengrow's recent book The Dawn of Everything makes quite a lot of this issue, with some provocative arguments, and I strongly recommend reading it. They make a series of very interesting arguments about the significance of the differences between Native American (and other non-European) conceptions of politics and society and European ones.
Their references, in turn, provide some good material that might lead you down a good path:
Donald A Grinde, The Iroquois and the Founding of the American Nation (1977) is probably the founding text in this genre, and there are a long string of books that respond to it (e.g. by Bruce E. Johansen and Elizabeth Tooker) but, according to Graeber and Wengrow, the ongoing debate tends to focus mostly on indigenous influences on the US Constitution, not more broadly on indigenous political philosophy.
The French Enlightenment and Its Others, by David Allen Harvey (2012), is another text Graeber and Wengrow make a lot of use of, and it engages directly with Lahontan's Dialogues (a key quasi-primary source on the issue).
Graeber and Wengrow also use Barbara Alice Mann's work quite a lot - her work editing 'Native Speakers of the Eastern Woodlands: selected Speeches and Critical Analysis' would also be worth reading.
Hope that helps.
The biggest, most glorious of congratz to our fantastic winners of 2021! You folks earned it!
What an honour! Thank you!
I hit the SAVE button so quick, I sprained my finger....
Wow! Thank you so much! I look forward to going back and reading all these amazing answers!
A worthy bunch of posts and questions, congrats to all!!!
Congratulations to all the winners and nominees and thanks to all the users for such excellent questions! I'm looking forward to another fantastic year on r/AskHistorians.
Is there any criteria for what questions were picked or just questions the moderators liked?
Congratulations to all the winners!
this is my favorite subreddit; i never ask or answer questions but i read it basically every day and i want to say i appreciate you all so much
2021 may not have been the year we all might have hoped for the world but AH has been a wonderful light of knowledge and joy for me. Congratulations to the very worthy winners with their great work showing the very best of this place and it's users
Is not the "1st: "Is White Europe a myth?", answer by /u/Kelpie-Cat" kind of wrong though, Oxygen Isotopes can only determine what temperature rainfall was during their childhood(and because different depth wells hardly give anything)
Learned a lot just reading those :)
We really can only guess here because the historical record she presents focuses mainly on the protagonist lobster, while giving us little information of her own movements.
This sentence gave me the laugh I needed tonight. Thank you /u/YourlocalTitanicguy. Your answer was wonderful.
I love this community!
My only issue with the #1, while amazingly explained, I think might be missing a point of OP's question, which touched on complaints on modern day casting in period pieces (with the context op gave a more larger form of that question would be something like)
(EDIT: To make a clear that this is not a critique or attack of the answer given just answer a specific part of OP's question)
"was there a large enough population of PoC where it would look like a modern media representation of medieval Caerdydd which is just essentially modern day Caerdydd with various peoples of various cultures and backgrounds"
Which even by OP's numbers is a no, **29% (**Rounded up high medieval) and of the various graves searched showed at least 1 person of north African or simply African origin (if the paper looked at other origin points through isotopes I missed that) that means a further 70% or so did not contain a single one, that, while I may be making a leap, tells me they existed just not in large numbers and most likely as they point out existed as churchmen brought to England via the need for a priest in a area.
Also its honestly hard to tell race from water isotopes when dealing with areas of mass Roman expansion, for example a ethnically Italian/peninsula Roman general may bring his son and wife to his station in or around Egypt, his son lives there for 20 years and is then posted to Britannia and dies there he would show that he grew up in and around the Nile Delta area and would match those who lived and died there, perhaps with some minor differences depending on how long he lived in Britannia.
As for the Hunnic thing I'm not touching that with a 1000ft poll all I'm saying is that was lot of leaps and bounds to get to that one, but Its history so who knows, could wake up and find out France really did marry a princess off to the Mongol's.
