Eurocentrism

[Louis Proyect <lnp3@xxxxxxxxx>]

Counterpunch, July 18, 2002

Through Racist Eyes
Is Eurocentrism Unique?

by M. Shahid Alam

It would be hard for someone who comes to European historiography from
another perspective--Greek, Roman or Islamic--not to notice an obsession,
especially pronounced since the eighteenth century, with European superiority.

One runs into this obsession amongst all kinds of writers. It is already
visible during the eighteenth century in Montesquieu, Hume and Kant. During
the nineteenth century it was elaborated into historical systems by Hegel
and Marx, erected into racial hierarchies by Blumenbach and Cuvier, and
shaped into a pseudo-science of race by Agassiz and Morton. In recent
times, this obsession may be observed in full bloom in several leading
historians, including White, Brenner, Jones and Landes. When one stumbles
into an exception, such as Needham or Hodgson, it is refreshing.

This obsession takes a variety of forms. It is claimed that Europeans
possess qualities that no one else possesses, or they possess them in
greater abundance. At various times, these claims have been asserted with
respect to rationality, freedom, individuality, inventiveness, daring,
curiosity and tolerance; not an exhaustive list. In addition, these
qualities have always been translated into superior achievements. The
Europeans have always excelled in governance, wars, technology, management,
sciences, humanities, philosophy, historiography, romance, pornography,
shipping, banking, capitalism and industrialization. Again, the list is not
exhaustive.

The claims of superiority take two forms. First, there is the method of
assertion; we control the production of knowledge, and we can say what we
like about ourselves and others. A recent example of this is David Landes'
Wealth and Poverty of Nations. There are others who hit upon the strategy
of starting the wagon train of Western civilization in Babylon, and moving
it generally westward, through Egypt, Phoenicia, Israel, Greece and Rome,
until it arrives at its final destination in Western Europe. A clever way
to overcome a skimpy history, by extend it backwards some five thousand
years in order to appropriate the greatest achievements of the ancient Near
East.

These superior qualities and attainments were of course not accidental:
they were produced by additional, deeper layers of superiority. Europeans
excelled because they were descendants of Japheth, who had been chosen for
divine preferment. Alternatively, they derived their superiority from their
location, their favored continent, whose temperate climate, diverse
environment, rivers, and abundant coastline, produced greater vigor and
economic opportunities. There were many more who put it down simply to
race: the whites were biologically superior.

full: http://www.counterpunch.org/

Louis Proyect
Marxism mailing list: http://www.marxmail.org



~~~~~~~
PLEASE clip all extraneous text before replying to a message.