Westernized vs. Industrialized
So I was editing a paper today, and came across the term "Westernized" (capitalized just like that), used to refer to people living in industrialized or developed countries and who have a tendency towards sedentarity. This made me stop to think, why "Westernized"? Isn't that a bit arrogantly ethnocentric? Does it not sort of ignore the fact that not all of the countries in the western hemisphere have developed at the same rate or to the same degree? Does it not also ignore the fact that many countries in the eastern hemisphere have developed along the same time scale and to the same degree as many countries in the west? Does it not also ignore the fact that the line we draw between east and west is, in itself, arrogantly ethnocentric and an entirely artificial human contstruct, as is the very notion of a directional system that places the north at the top and the east to the left?
It reminded me of a "Cheese day" episode of The West Wing, where C.J. meets with a group called the "Cartographers for Social Equality". The map they showed her as being more representative of what the world should look like literally turned one's perspective of the Earth on its head.
Perhaps a more suitable term would be "Industrialized"? Or even "industrialized"?
Comments
Or just call it like it is, and say "lazy" :-)
Damn... i've been putting the east on the right all these years. Maybe that's why I have no sense of direction!
Posted by: heather at January 19, 2007 04:44 PM
Yes, and your right IS my left. Duh. :-p
Posted by: Saedigh at January 19, 2007 06:35 PM