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Re: dialogue of civilizations? by francesco ranci 02 May 2002 09:28 UTC |
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If you put a certain number of trees together, you have a "wood" ("forest", "jungle"). The term "wood" in such a case is not more "ideological" than any other term. Many ships can make a "fleet" and many human beings can become a "people", many words a "language" and many ideas a "culture", many habits can make a "civilization"... and so on (you may prefer to say tha a culture is made of habits and a civilization of rules, or elsewise, but my point is not about how to achieve the best semantic results right now). I agree that terms like "civilizations" are often used in a vicious way, from my point of view. But also are many other terms. We can't abolish them. Best regards, Francesco Ranci --- Andre Gunder Frank <franka@fiu.edu> wrote: > > There has been a vivid discussions among Eastern > Intellectuals on the > problem of inter-civilizational dialogue. > > Indeed the UN named 2001 the Year of Dialogue of > Civilizations. > Therefore the UN University in Tokyo had a big > conference about it. > Here is the fist paragraph of my intervention there > [the remainder is on > my web-page] > > DIALOGUEs-YES. CIVILIZATIONs- NO. > NOT EVEN SOCIETIES NOR CULTURES. > > CIVILIZATIONS NO: There are no and have never been > distinct pristine > civilizationS, societieS, cultureS nor even peopleS. > The very ideas are > nothing but ideology, pure and simple although their > use occults - that > term is created chosen deliberately! - simple and > complex reality. In the > plural, the invention and use of these terms > especially in reference to > one's own "civilization" as distinct from others, > not to mention > "barbarism" of others, knowingly or not represents > an often occult and > sometimes even express claim -no more and no more > less - to an alleged > superiority. It invokes a [God?] chosen Herrenvolk > of us, distinct from > and even against others. This claim since the > nineteenth century and > still in the twenty-first, has recently been most > and best expressed in > and through still widely reigning American ideology. > With abundant > self-congratulation it claims already to have > arrived at The End of > History [Fukayama] even as it still faces "The Clash > of Civilizations" of > "The West against the Rest," [Huntington] and Jihad > vs. McDonaldization > [Barber] to combat "The Coming Anarchy in the World" > [Kaplan]. All of > these pundits and their misleading civilizational > theses of civilizational > clash between "us" and "them" are ideologically > suspect and > socio-politically divisive, often intentionally so. > We must counter them > with more realistic and at the same time humano- and > eco-centric studies > with messages that reflect past, present and future > reality as well as our > continued need for diversity in unity and unity in > diversity. > > > > > > > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > > ANDRE GUNDER FRANK > > Senior Fellow > Residence > World History Center One > Longfellow Place > Northeastern University > Apt. 3411 > 270 Holmes Hall Boston, MA > 02114 USA > Boston, MA 02115 USA Tel: > 617-948 2315 > Tel: 617 - 373 4060 Fax: > 617-948 2316 > Web-page:csf.colorado.edu/agfrank/ > e-mail:franka@fiu.edu > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > > > > > __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! Health - your guide to health and wellness http://health.yahoo.com
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