What do we mean by Eurocentrism, and what are its dangers?

Résumé du document

For Ama Mazama "there is no general agreement as to what precisely Eurocentrism is", this term highly controversial has indeed several definitions which usually refer to the political opinions of their authors. According to a broad conception Eurocentrism can however be defined as following “the conscious or unconscious process by which Europe and European cultural assumptions are constructed as, or assumed to be the normal, the natural or the universal”. In its current interpretation –especially in Europe- Eurocentrism is usually considered as an ancient mistake of the Europeans towards the non-Europeans.

However various authors evoke the notions of multiculturalism, post-colonialism or the relation between a centre and its periphery to establish the persistence of Eurocentrism. From these different interpretations a debate has emerged trying to give “the right” definition of Eurocentrism. If this debate matters to understand the history and aspects of Eurocentrism, it might be a dangerous way to forget the deviance created by Eurocentrism. To consider all these aspects it seems relevant to wonder to what extent the reading of the world history through European dominant representations has led to dangerous distortions of reality?

Regarding this issue, it is appropriate to study the meaning of Eurocentrism from its creation to its Golden Age (I), then it appears that Eurocentrism has produced several derives (II). Finally, one can focus of the possibility that Eurocentrism constitutes a concept inherent to European consciousness and that can adopt new forms (III).

European consciousness and European philosophy, sociology, etc, started to emerge in a few known world, consequently the idea of Eurocentrism - even when the term did not exist - progressively emerged in a world where the lands outside Europe constituted more a place for imagination than a tangible reality. Then the discovery of new territories has been a tool to extend a European interpretation of the world considered as universal rather as a way to incorporate new cultural representations

Extraits

[...] Moreover there is still an unequal relationship between works on European history and those on other types of history: "as Dipesh Chakrabarty argues, non-Western thought is constantly precluded from the constitution of knowledge proper third-world historians, as he writes "feel a need to refer to works in European history; historians of Europe do not fell any need to reciprocate One of the ways to maintain this unequal relationship is through the unequal repartitions of technology in the world, there is a persistent gap between European culture(s) and notably African ones because of the centralisation of communications technologies in a specific part of the world. One can also find that environmentalist reasons persist to justify Eurocentrism, despite the absurdity to explain a world dominated by Europe because of the climate, soils , it seems that they are one the last bastions to justify Eurocentrism when the discourse about races and cultures are no longer morally acceptable[27]. [...]

[...] - Mazama A., "Reviewed work: Eurocentrism. By Samir Amin. New York: Montly Review Press, 1989", Journal of Black Studies, Vol No July 1995, pp. 760-764. - Mazama A., "The Eurocentric Discourse on Writing: An Exercise in Self- Glorification", Journal of Black Studies, Vol No September 1998, pp. 3-16. - Mowitt J., "In the Wake of Eurocentrism: An Introduction", Cultural Critique, No Winter 2001, pp. 3-15. - Monastersky R., "The Warped World of Mental Maps", Science News, Vol No October 1992, pp. [...]

[...] One can find some other insidious forms of Eurocentrism as the determination of non-European areas by Europeans. Though Mr Wesseling remains us that Africa and Asia have been initially named by Romans, American comes from the Italian Amerigo Vespucci, and Australia is issued from the term ‘Terra australis incognita' which means unknown Southland'[12]. From this original appropriation of cultures, Eurocentrism created a history which learned to exist without any other representations than the European one. Indeed the construction of history has been made by European historians who considered that History starts with Europe because their reasoning implements some logics only applicable to the understanding of European history. [...]

[...] Afrocentrism: A Geopolitical Linkage Analysis", Journal of Black Studies, p Mowitt J., the Wake of Eurocentrism: An Introduction”, Cultural critique, p Fourny J.F., “Review: Anatomy of Eurocentrism: On Samir Amin's “Eurocentrism” and Vassilis Lambropoulos's Rise of Eurocentrism””, Research in African Literatures, p Gandhi L., Postcolonial, a critical introduction theory, p Blaut J.M., “Environmentalism and Eurocentrism”, Geographical Review. Monastersky R., warped world of mental Science news, p Hoskins L. "Eurocentrism vs. Afrocentrism: A Geopolitcal Linkage Analysis", Journal of Black Studies, p Davis. N., A history of Europe, p Hoskins L. "Eurocentrism vs. [...]

[...] An editorial”, European review, Vol No pp. 121-124. - West C., Brown B., "Beyond Eurocentrism and Multiculturalism", Modern Philology, Vol May 1993, pp. 142-166. Pictures "Mappa mundi” in Mansel J., La Fleur des Histoires. Valenciennes, 1459- 1463, manoscritto, penna, inchiostro e colori su pergamena X 22 cm (carta). Bruxelles, Bibliothèque Royale de Belgique, MS fol. 281v. Mappa attribuita a Simom Marmion, on http://www.storicamente.org/05_studi_ricerche/wang_fig2.htm. [...]