Re: Diamond in the Rough

[Jim Devine <jdevine03@xxxxxxxxx>]

raghu wrote:
> Very interesting article. Thanks for forwarding!

it's a pleasure!

> > To the Editor:
> > What an odd, convoluted perspective displayed by those anthropologists
> > who attack Jared Diamond's "Guns, Germs, and Steel" for "excusing the
> > excesses of the conquerors." The book attempts to account for why,
> > after around 3000 B.C., western Eurasian societies became
> > comparatively more advanced.

> This is a curious remark. Is it really true that "western Eurasian"
> cultures have been "more economically, militarily and technologically
> advanced" since 3000 BC? Isn't it more like since 1700 AD?

I think the letter writer is referring to the process of growing
superiority (or potential for superiority) that occurred after 3000
B.C., not the actual superiority after 3000 B.C.

> Also does the phrase "western Eurasian" include
> Turkish/Arab/Egyptian/Persian/Indian cultures? If so is it not so
> broad as to be essentially meaningless?

For Diamond, it's all about Eurasia, meaning from Gibraltar to Siberia
and from upper Norway down to the top of the Sahara (and so including
the south coast of the Mediterranean).[*]

It would thus include all of the countries in your list (especially
the Turks) -- except India. One of the big gaps in GUNS, GERMS, &
STEEL is that Diamond (almost?) totally ignores the subcontinent. It's
all about the east-west axis from (say) Paris to (say) Sakhalin.
Because this axis involves few really serious geographical barriers,
it sets up a very different economic situation than say, the
north-south Axis in the so-called New World or in Africa, which
involve all sorts of geographical barriers. The Indian-Pakistani
subcontinent is clearly separated from the Paris-Sakhalin axis, but as
far as I remember Diamond does not discuss it. He does discuss SE
Asia, etc.

I haven't read Diamond's book in a few years, but as I remember it,
the dominance of the western part of Eurasia (what we call "Europe")
is not really explained by his theory.

[*] the late Jim Blaut accused Diamond of "Eurocentrism." For all I
know, that accusation may be accurate in describing Diamond's personal
proclivities, but his theory is more Northern-Eurasiancentric (whew!)
--
Jim Devine / "Segui il tuo corso, e lascia dir le genti." (Go your own
way and let people talk.) --  Karl, paraphrasing Dante.