Imperialist social locations
Especially when the southern Roman province of Galatia25 forms the social
location of this letter, the imperial context is important for understanding
its othering-discourse as well as subtle hints. But, historical descriptions
of the material or ideological resources of Empire have unnecessarily
suffered from a narrowness of focus. The Roman Empire was a negotiated
concept, which created the very world it inhabited (cf. Hardt & Negri
2000:xv), which is not to deny its strong, variegated material presence. But
first and foremost Empire was a construct, a concept, not a nation, and
thus without boundaries, a regime that effectively encompassed virtually
the entire civilised world. Empire’s rule extended beyond the material and
exercised its influence not only on human bodies but on human psychology
as well. Negotiations with imperial ideology and imposition were neither
one-dimensional, nor devoid of intersecting and mutually informing crisscrossing
lines between empire and subjects, nor oblivious to imperial ruboff
amidst resistance against it (cf. Punt 2012).
A theme rather neglected until now,26 namely the deliberate or unconscious
framing of a group’s identity in contradistinction with imperial
influence and impact (cf. Martin & Barnes 2003:11), is important for our
discussion. What did it entail for his sense of identity that Paul shared