UNTHINKING EUROCENTRISM

Review of Joseph Campbell's book Creative Mythology; the Pathless Quest.

This has inspired me to believe that everything handed down from Eurocentric traditions has no relation to the future. If the West is not overcome, there will BE no future for the Human species.

First published in Green Anarchist (U.K) - 2005/06

Who objects to music? Only orthodox ones. Maulvis (clerics) will object. Not all Muslims. Those who haven't studied Urdu, the Qur'an, won't object. Music is not heretical to Islam, I say that! Or else! Khawaja Saheb wouldn't have listened Qawwali! Bulle Shah wouldn't have worn bangles and danced.Bulle Shah's Guru had told him....You can attain God by dancing. So he started dancing and found God! If I sing Bulle Shah's poetry.... who does the poem attack.......The maulvi, the cleric. The one who reads the prayers in the mosques, it will sting him. They are the ones who have banned music , not Allah ! If song was banned in the home of Allah, he wouldn't have made singers.

The title of this article should really have been "Around the Fourth World in Twenty-three Hours," since twenty-three hours is exactly how much time an Art History professor at UCLA, confined to a ten-week quarter system, actually spends in the classroom teaching a lecture course. 1 Although this may seem like an exceptionally short term to academics used to a semester system, even semester-long courses on the arts of the Fourth World allow for only the most superficial and selective coverage. This is as true of more specialized courses as it is of comprehensive survey courses on Fourth World art. The material to follow, which traces the evolution of Fourth World art history programs at four U.S. universities where I have either studied or taught, attempts to document some of the ways in which academics have addressed this problem. Although I will take up these schools in the order in which I became involved with them, it happens that the first two institutions to be discussed, Yale University and Columbia University, were the first in this country to establish doctoral programs in the art history of one or more of the Fourth World areas. They should therefore be fairly representative of chronological and programmatic developments that have taken place on other campuses across the nation during the last eight decades. Despite the fact that there are significant differences among these four programs, certain patterns can be discerned that shed light on changes in academic coverage of Fourth World art over the past nine decades.

Cette thèse s’intéresse à la question : en quoi l’apprentissage de la danse contemporaine héritière des sources africaines contribue-t-il à la déconstruction de l’occidentalocentrisme au sein de la communauté franco-québécoise blanche à Montréal ? Il sera démontré que cet apprentissage vient à offrir la possibilité à la communauté franco-québécoise blanche de retourner le regard critique vers elle-même afin d’observer sa propre acculturation occidentalocentrique et afin d’observer comment elle perpétue la violence de la blanchité. Ancré dans un cadre critique de justice postcoloniale, l'apprentissage de la danse contemporaine héritière des sources africaines peut contribuer à délier la hiérarchisation entre un occident associé à « l'humanité » et « l'Autre » associé à une humanité en fonction de sa proximité avec l'occident. L'apprentissage de la danse contemporaine héritière des sources africaines invoque une déhiérarchisation des catégories de « modernité/primitivité » et cultive une restitution des pluralités face à une colonialité qui continue à hégémoniser les épistémologies, les ontologies et les esthétiques. Ce faisant, l’enseignement de la danse contemporaine héritière des sources africaines au Québec est un exemple de cas qui déstabilise les paradigmes néo-coloniaux du ‘développement’ dans lesquels le ‘Nord’, associé à la ‘modernité’, est agent de développement, alors que le ‘Sud’ est récipiendaire du développement. Les implications plus larges de cette étude ont trait aux questions d’engagement dans une solidarité réhumanisante qui déconstruit la colonialité; aux questions de coexistence sociale dans la pluralité culturelle; ainsi qu'à l'éthique orientant les relations qu'on entretient avec « l'Autre ».

This thesis focuses on the question: how does learning contemporary African dance contribute to the deconstruction of Western-centrism within the white Franco-Quebecois community in Montreal? It will be shown that this learning comes to offer the possibility to the white Franco-Quebec community to return the critical gaze to itself to observe its own Western-centric acculturation and in order to observe how it perpetuates the violence of whiteness. Anchored in a critical framework of postcolonial justice, the learning of contemporary African dance can help to untie the hierarchy between a West associated with "humanity" and the "Other" associated with a humanity according to its proximity to the world. 'West. Learning contemporary African dance invokes a de-hierarchization of the categories of “modernity/primitivity” and cultivates a restitution of pluralities in the face of a coloniality that continues to hegemonize epistemologies, ontologies, and aesthetics. In doing so, the teaching of contemporary African dance in Quebec is an example of a case that destabilizes the neo-colonial paradigms of 'development' in which the 'North', associated with 'modernity', is an agent of development, whereas the 'South' is the recipient of development. The broader implications of this study relate to questions of engagement in a rehumanizing solidarity that deconstructs coloniality; questions of social coexistence in cultural plurality; as well as to the ethics guiding the relations that one maintains with “the Other”.

Cette thèse s’intéresse à la question : en quoi l’apprentissage de la danse contemporaine héritière des sources africaines contribue-t-il à la déconstruction de l’occidentalocentrisme au sein de la communauté franco-québécoise blanche à Montréal ? Il sera démontré que cet apprentissage vient à offrir la possibilité à la communauté franco-québécoise blanche de retourner le regard critique vers elle-même afin d’observer sa propre acculturation occidentalocentrique et afin d’observer comment elle perpétue la violence de la blanchité. Ancré dans un cadre critique de justice postcoloniale, l'apprentissage de la danse contemporaine héritière des sources africaines peut contribuer à délier la hiérarchisation entre un occident associé à « l'humanité » et « l'Autre » associé à une humanité en fonction de sa proximité avec l'occident. L'apprentissage de la danse contemporaine héritière des sources africaines invoque une déhiérarchisation des catégories de « modernité/primitivité » et cultive une restitution des pluralités face à une colonialité qui continue à hégémoniser les épistémologies, les ontologies et les esthétiques. Ce faisant, l’enseignement de la danse contemporaine héritière des sources africaines au Québec est un exemple de cas qui déstabilise les paradigmes néo-coloniaux du ‘développement’ dans lesquels le ‘Nord’, associé à la ‘modernité’, est agent de développement, alors que le ‘Sud’ est récipiendaire du développement. Les implications plus larges de cette étude ont trait aux questions d’engagement dans une solidarité réhumanisante qui déconstruit la colonialité; aux questions de coexistence sociale dans la pluralité culturelle; ainsi qu'à l'éthique orientant les relations qu'on entretient avec « l'Autre ».

 


Abstract

This thesis focuses on the question: how does learning contemporary African dance contribute to the deconstruction of Western-centrism within the white Franco-Quebecois community in Montreal? It will be shown that this learning comes to offer the possibility to the white Franco-Quebec community to return the critical gaze to itself to observe its own Western-centric acculturation and in order to observe how it perpetuates the violence of whiteness. Anchored in a critical framework of postcolonial justice, the learning of contemporary African dance can help to untie the hierarchy between a West associated with "humanity" and the "Other" associated with a humanity according to its proximity to the world. 'West. Learning contemporary African dance invokes a de-hierarchization of the categories of “modernity/primitivity” and cultivates a restitution of pluralities in the face of a coloniality that continues to hegemonize epistemologies, ontologies, and aesthetics. In doing so, the teaching of contemporary African dance in Quebec is an example of a case that destabilizes the neo-colonial paradigms of 'development' in which the 'North', associated with 'modernity', is an agent of development, whereas the 'South' is the recipient of development. The broader implications of this study relate to questions of engagement in a rehumanizing solidarity that deconstructs coloniality; questions of social coexistence in cultural plurality; as well as to the ethics guiding the relations that one maintains with “the Other”.

Аннотация (англ): In article dynamics of development of global history in 1990 — the 2010th is analyzed. Two
serious shifts — from universalism and Eurocentrism towards post-colonial criticism, and then — to a new
Eurocentrism, to a neoimperial discourse are shown. The negative features of post-colonial criticism and early
forms of global history which are pulling together them with dogmatic rationality and a determinism of general
history are analysed. It is shown how changes of global history are connected with “process of a civilization" (in
understanding of sociologists of school of N. Elias), with transition from an era of informalization 1960 — the
1970th by an era of reformalization 1980 — the 2010th. The opportunities created by the appeal to
multidirectional historical memory, universal self-identification, situational premised knowledge, the decentering
history for further development of global history are designated.
Аннотация (рус): В статье анализируется динамика развития глобальной истории в 1990—2010-х гг.
Демонстрируются два серьезных сдвига — от универсализма и европоцентризма в сторону
постколониальной критики, а затем — к новому европоцентризму, к неоимперскому дискурсу. Показаны
негативные особенности постколониальной критики и ранних форм глобальной истории, сближающие их
с догматической рациональностью и детерминизмом всеобщей истории. Показано, как изменения
глобальной истории связаны с «процессом цивилизации» (в понимании социологов школы Н. Элиаса), с
переходом от эпохи информализации 1960—1970-х гг. к эпохе реформализации 1980—2010-х гг.
Обозначены возможности, создаваемые обращением к разнонаправленной исторической памяти,
универсальной самоидентификации, ситуативному предпосылочному знанию, децентрированной
истории для дальнейшего развития глобальной истории.

A philosopher formerly based in Zagreb, now at the Université de Paris-VIII (Saint-Denis), Rada Iveković explains the genesis of her interest in comparative philosophy, situated in the context of a convergence of Asian, Islamic, and European forms of thought which emerged among certain philosophers in the former Yugoslavia, also under the influence of the Non-aligned movement. She discusses the relationship between this area of specialization and her work as a feminist philosopher.


-“Introduction”, Hypatia. A Journal of Feminist Philosophy, Vol. 15, n. 4, Fall 2000, Special Issue “Contemporary French Women Philosophers”; pp. 221-224.
Translation from the French by Penelope Deutscher.

Der kontrovers diskutierte Begriff einer globalen Kunstgeschichte, »Global Art History«, wird in diesem Band zum übergreifenden Thema gemacht.

Die Beiträge international renommierter KunsthistorikerInnen fokussieren jeweils spezifische Regionen und künstlerische Praxen, die in globalen und transkulturellen Zusammenhängen differenziert betrachtet werden. Es geht um Standortbestimmungen, theoretische Fundierungen und methodische Klärungen – und nicht zuletzt darum, wie Kunstgeschichten außerhalb euro-amerikanischer Kontexte gedacht und geschrieben werden.

https://www.transcript-verlag.de/978-3-8376-4061-8/global-art-history/

To understand contemporary power—especially war and finance—it is important to examine the origins of global capitalism. This article generates an alternate, modified world-systems perspective that engages with the notion of Eurocentrism. Processes of trade and exchange, relations of production, political power, and military power in Mughal South Asia and in Ming China serve as examples used to describe spaces of power within the world economy before the reorientation of centers of power from Asia to Europe. The development of modern haute finance in the Italian city-states from 1300–1600 are then detailed as they developed while the centers of world power remained in Asia. The development of modern haute finance is then described as it generated “capitalistic” incarnations of class struggle, state making, war making, and ideology/culture. Finally, the key role of Genoese finance capital in the Spanish plunder of Latin American silver is discussed, including its contribution to a global reorientation of power from Asia to Europe.

""Postcolonialism is now an extensive body of theoretical and empirical knowledge that draws on Edward Said's critique of Orientalism, the Subaltern Studies collective, and other critical anti-colonial scholarship. While postcolonial scholars have significantly shaped humanistic disciplines such as history, comparative literature, and anthropology, their impact on political science has been rather limited. The resistance to postcolonialism is strongly associated with the perpetuation of Eurocentric perspectives on ex-colonial territories. Contemporary understandings of the state and democracy remain trapped in outdated Eurocentric theory that sheds scarcely any light on postcolonial realities. Mass democracy in India remains a puzzle for political scientists today much as it did for their predecessors n the '50s and '60s Likewise, recent scholarship on civil wars and ethnic conflict has renewed older colonial stereotypes of opportunistic native rebels and primordial divisions in non-Western societies. From the top-down perspective of mainstream US political science, just as for former colonial rulers, rebels and ethnic divides are merely impediments to state-building and economic growth.

The case for a postcolonial approach to the study of politics is thus stronger than ever before. A postcolonial approach can take many forms: critiques of existing Eurocentric theories of comparative politics; bottom-up ethnographic and historical understandings of politics in particular contexts; re-evaluations of commonplace political concepts such as the state, democracy, nationalism, and war in the light of different non-Western experiences. Such an approach calls for a sustained engagement with specific non-Western contexts as well as an openness to anthropological, historical, and area studies knowledge about them. In the same vein, it calls for "provincializing Europe," as Dipesh Chakrabarty has argued recently, in order to avoid treating European experiences as universals. These tasks are simultaneously theoretical and empirical as well as intellectual and practical. As such, they supplement ongoing efforts within the United States and Europe to produce critical scholarship on racial, gender, and sexual minorities, inequalities of class and status, and the interpenetration of power and knowledge in mainstream political science. A postcolonial approach is thus a radical endeavor that seeks to challenge mainstream knowledge on non-Western societies via sustained engagements with them. ""