Discussion of ReOrient, Pt. III

Discussion of ReOrient, Part III. 

AGF at Politics & Prose (suite et fin)

	Here follows some notes kindly contributed by Mary Coker, PhD
candidate in Sociology at AU, once Egyptologist, now Sinologist 
(kemingre@aol.com):


MPC Notes:  AGFrank remarks on ReOrient at the Politics and Prose book
signing following the American Historical Association conference panel
discussion on the book in Washington, DC:

Postulates inter-connected world.  World is only abstracted into
different groups because we so construct it.  This work is responding to
a political situation that is responding to a social and economic
reality; the rise of Asia and China.  World is de facto being
re-oriented.  Policy will be informed by these views.

This economic gravity towards the East is accepted as evidence of the
continuation of a cycle and argues that the world system predates Europe
in the 19th century.   

This work considers the world economic system, history and social theory.
 The economic/political reality is Globalization. Acknowledges broad
history of economically advanced states up to 1800.  This social theory
transforms and innovates by challenging Marx and Weber in the assumption
that Europe spawned the beginning of the world economy through some
unique genius.  Because of this genius, be it biological, environmental,
institutional, economic, it is the white man's burden to take to the rest
of the world.  Frank argues that this  conventional world view is pure
racism. 

Frank believes that the universality of social theory has not gone far
enough in the social sciences.  We have to begin by accepting that the
World economy did not begin in Europe.  We must write new history, then
new theory and new political policy will follow. 
We need horizontal integrative macro history which looks for connections
all over the world.

Frank warns us that the call (e.g. Huntington) to confront the coming of
Islam and China is dangerous and at the base of ethnic cleansing.  It
encourages us to be divisive rather than to be united.  History-writing
(generally) has an ideology, but (ideally) strives to be objective. 
History with an agenda strives to unite (KPM and MPC agree that something
is missing here).  Frank confronts the ideology he thinks is dangerous
for the world.

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					The end

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