Global Study 1 Midterm Essay
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Lecture_3Spring1.pptxDecentering/Recentering the Historical Gaze
Viewing the World from Different Perspectives?
World Map (1154)
Developed by Al-Idrisi
Arab cartographer, who lived at the court of a Christian Sicilian king
What do you notice? What do you recognize?
South is at the top; north is at the bottom; the center is the Arabian Peninsula, where the holy cities of Mecca and Medina are located
Viewing the World from Different Perspectives?
World Map (1402)
“Map of Integrated Lands and Regions of Historical Countries and Capitals”
Developed by Yi Hoe and Kwon Kun
Korean cartographers
What do you notice? What do you recognize?
North is at the top; south is at the bottom; the center is modern day mainland China
Viewing the World from Different Perspectives?
World Map (1569)
“A New and Augmented Description of Earth Corrected for the Use of Sailors”
Developed by Gerardus Mercator
Flemish cartographer
What do you notice? What do you recognize?
North is at the top; south is at the bottom; the center are Atlantic Ocean trade routes
The World from a Non-European Perspective?
What lessons can we learn from maps?
“Gaze” as literal act of seeing/ordering space
“Gaze” as metaphor for seeing/ordering information
Our “gaze,” or the perspective from which we see and order space (shaped by the cultures to which we belong), has a profound impact on how
1) we understand space
2) we represent space to ourselves and others
Our “gaze” affects what things we choose to include in maps, how much significance we attribute to them, and how we arrange them so they make sense
These lessons hold true for the metaphorical “gaze” that we bring to other kinds of information, separated into distinct disciplines like history, sociology, etc.
Going Against Tough Odds!
Decentering the “western gaze” is possible, but poses some particularly difficult challenges. Why?
Because the “western gaze” is “hegemonic”
In general terms, hegemony means “political, economic, or military predominance or leadership”
As an analytical concept, used in the social sciences, hegemony refers to “a dominant ideology which imposes or reinforces…a certain social order”
In simple terms, the “western gaze” is a reflection and instrument of western dominance in the modern world
Western states have worked to impose it not only on their own citizens, but on the states/peoples they wish to dominate, since it legitimates their power
How Does the “Western Gaze” Read as Historical Narrative?
It reads as a “teleology” – a “civilizing process”
Teleology is the theory that “certain acts, processes, or phenomena are to be explained in terms of intention, design, or purposiveness”
A way of looking at historical processes backwards – starting at the endpoint and explaining everything that has come before in terms of how it has helped/hindered humanity to reach that endpoint
The “western gaze” is a variety of teleology that can be labeled a civilizing process, wherein it is assumed that the endpoint of history is western civilization/its values
All other civilizations are at a lower level of civilizational development (through which the west has already passed)
One day, they too might reach the heights of western civilization by westernizing themselves/their values
What Are Some Possible Solutions?
According to Eric R. Wolf (1982):
Scholars need to resist the temptation of thinking that analytical concepts such as “civilization” are “internally homogenous and externally distinctive”
We must treat them as “bundles of relationships” and place “them back into the field from which they were abstracted” (i.e., humanity)
This is precisely what Peter Frankopan (2015) does by using the central nervous system as a metaphor for the Silk Roads region
He conceives of the Silk Roads region as a node from which nerves radiate outwards, transmitting messages from one corner of the world to the other
“These pathways serve as the world’s central nervous system, connecting peoples and places together…understanding these connections allows us to understand how the world works”
Silk Roads Region as a Case Study on How to Approach the History of Globalization…
What made the Silk Roads region so special, according to Peter Frankopan (2015)?
Trade/exchange produced great cities, world religions, unrivalled learning and arts, and monumental architecture
But trade routes (whether of goods, services, or ideas) do not emerge of their own accord
Why/How did the Silk Roads region become the Silk Roads region in the first place?
According to James A. Millward (Georgetown University), there were two factors:
1) Certain geographical/environmental conditions
2) Imperial and religious unifications
Silk Roads Region as a Case Study on How to Approach the History of Globalization…
How did geographical/environmental conditions combine to create the Silk Roads region?
Several mountain ranges rise in Central Eurasia, shielding it from the Pacific and Indian oceans / assuring that the region gets little rainfall
As a result, the Silk Roads region can be divided into two geographical/environmental zones
The first is called the steppe, or semi-arid grassland of Eurasia, where people survived by raising livestock and moving their herds periodically
Dry and flat, the steppe encouraged mobility
The second is the belt of Eurasian deserts, where travel could be relatively fast and efficient, and where polities controlling desert routes often maintained water depots and inns to profit from travelers
Silk Roads Region as a Case Study on How to Approach the History of Globalization…
Such geographical/environmental zones produced nomadic peoples, who lacked grain, other crops, and manufactures and luxuries
They did have horses and equestrian military skills, which gave them a military edge over the southern agrarian lands
This created a dynamic whereby nomad herders interacted with farmers and cities by trading or raiding
Nomads could form large, militarily powerful confederations under a ruling elite and common label bearing both ethnic and political meaning, such as Hun, Turk, or Mongol
These confederations could unify steppe territories and conquer agrarian states to the south
Silk Roads Region as a Case Study on How to Approach the History of Globalization…
Large nomad empires needed revenue to make up for diverting much of the herding population into military duty and to pay for administrative overhead
Loot obtained from conquest provided some revenue
Tributes from conquered peoples and taxing trade were more sustainable
When nomad empires maintained relative stability and built communications, this encouraged trade and travel generally
The spread of religions did the same by creating religious/cultural realms, zones of shared faith and religious institutions that transcended political and linguistic boundaries
Religions gave nomad empires a cultural package – a script, bodies of knowledge, and clerical personnel – in addition to the promise of salvation or reincarnation
The Height of Imperial Integration in the Silk Roads Region – The Mongol Empire
Although the Silk Roads stretched from the Pacific to the Mediterranean by 50 BCE, in many ways their apotheosis dates from the period of the Mongol Empire (13th-14th centuries CE)
This empire was founded by Genghis Khan (1162-1227 CE)
Much of what we consider the intellectual, religious, political, or economic patrimony of “the West” or “the East” (or Christendom or Islam or Europe or Africa or Asia) are actually varied expressions of what was an Afro-Eurasian joint venture
Dumplings!!!!
