“We are the World” AIM: How do we view world history? From what lens? How does this effect our Point of View? DO NOW: DEFINE THE TERM EUROCENTRISM Mr. BETA – AP World

EUROCENTRIC APPROACH TO WORLD STUDIES NorthAmerica SouthAmerica Africa Australia Asia EUROPE

MULTICULTURAL APPROACH TO WORLD STUDIES Concept or Event NorthAmerica SouthAmerica Africa Australia Asia Europe

SAMUEL HUNTINGTON: THE CLASH OF CIVILIZATIONS. 1999

SAMUEL HUNTINGTON “A CLASH OF CIVILIZATIONS?” A drastic examples of an actual eurocentric worldview. Citation: “Western concepts differ fundamentally from those prevalent in other civilizations. Western ideas of individualism, liberalism, constitutionalism, human rights, equality, liberty, the rule of law, democracy, free markets, the separation of church and state, often have little resonance in Islamic, Confucian, Japanese, Hindu, Buddhist or Orthodox cultures.” (Huntington 1993, 40) Huntington, Samuel. The Clash of Civilizations?. In: Foreign Affairs, Summer 1993:

MAKES THE TERM “WESTERN” VALUES ANY SENSE? individualism, liberalism, constitutionalism, human rights, equality, liberty, the rule of law, democracy, free markets, the separation of church and state Whatever these values may be, they obviously are not stable. And they are full of contradictions.

“WESTERN” VALUES … have developed considerably over time, and have kept changing E.g. three generations of Human Rights Declaration 1948 Social Pact 1966 Resolution on the right of development 1986

HISTORY TEACHES US THAT … “Western thinking” at an earlier stage was basically driven by religious and mystical narrow-mindedness, by superstition in its Christian or non-Christian versions, by all the things that the West today believes are specific for Muslim or Hindu societies.

STABLE EUROPEAN FAMILY STRUCTURES?

1ST DEFINITION OF EUROCENTRISM is the practice, conscious or otherwise, of placing emphasis on European (and, generally, Western) concerns, culture and values at the expense of those of other cultures. Eurocentrism is an instance of ethnocentrism, perhaps especially relevant because of its alignment with current and past real power structures in the world. Eurocentrism often involved claiming cultures that were not white or European as being such, or denying their existence at all.

2ND DEFINITION OF EUROCENTRISM A set of scientifically proved criterias and categories for dealing with the others, constituting their particular inferiority e.g. Friedrich Willhelm Hegel‘s Hirarchy for the comparision of world regions America is inferior to Africa due to the comparative short sature of the american flora and fauna Asia is inferior to Europe, because it is old aged and exhausted Africa is inferior to Europe due to its lack of civilization Gerbi, Antonello. Dispute of the New World: The History of a Polemic, Trans. Jeremy Moyle. Pittsburgh: U of Pittsburgh P, 1973.

AGAINST EUROCENTRIC HISTORY Andre Gunder FRANK: ReOrient. Global Economy in the Asian Age. University of California Press obligatory reading: Chapter 1, p