Introduction to Area studies Mid Term

Because it was the first time someone made a clear and accurate model of the world's cultures

Because it confirmed existing notions and ideas about cultures that people had

Because this model was adjusted and corrected by Richard Lewis, so it now contained new and relatively recently discovered cultures too.

Because each country voted on what color best represented them, so it was considered a fair representation of these countries

A nation can also be seen in terms of time zones. With the focus on chronology instead of geography

By tracing official documents that have been preserved in national archives, scholars can accurately define the natural and political borders of nations

Every country has constructed its identity, spatially and temporally, in relation to an “other”.

It has recently been determined that due to the complexity of defining what a nation's "identity" is, there can be no such thing as the concept of 'identity'

Its formulation changes constantly due to spatial factors, current relations with multiple ‘others’ and historical memories.

Next to the emphasis of the superiority of the 'West', eurocentrism has universal applicability

Ethnocentrism focusses on the superiority of the 'individual'.

Eurocentrism has been received positively around the world, because it was evident that Europe's succes was inevitable.

The existence of Protestantism that proved to be more suitable for capitalism than other societies’ religions

The unique characteristic of European families to be small, but in turn proving to be able to achieve greater capital accumulation and growth

The transformation of European countries’ feudalism to absolute monarchies, and ultimately to modern nation-states

The discovery of the New World and the European colonial ventures allowed the accumulation of large amounts of silver to be traded with Asia

A confirmation for the European colonizers that they were in fact, superior. They had a predestined fait that provided them with prosperity and good fortune.

A simple matter of conjuncture; if these two unrelated incidents had not happened simultaneously, things would have been different

An awkward moment in the European Master Narrative; where it would have made more sense if the Europeans had the monopolized position in the silver business

It is a form of discrimination and racism

It was recently discovered that Tahitians are sometimes being forced into these jobs and do not get paid; to keep the performances as authentic and realistic as possible

It reinforces colonialism

The concept of defining each other through mutual interaction is not possible for the Tahitians because they are not in the position to interact with the "other"

She uses Japan as a case study because of it's unique status as one of the few 'natural states nation'

She puts the focus on the situations near the edges as opposed to the centers of a nation

She pleas for the independence of the Ainu and Okinowan people; because she discovered that these civilizations were in fact, never a part of modern day Japan.

They are retrospective speculations based on the present geo-body of Siam

Shows grandeur: one cannot help noticing how great Siam’s body was in the past in comparison with its neighbors.

The function of geo-body of Siam’s past in historical maps: make the past familiar to the present

Because of Griffit's case study on borders; we have accurate, sufficient data and evidence to confirm the construction of the Siam maps, are in fact scientific

In the Bunmei world order outlying regions in Japan, such as Okinawa, came to be represented as temporally different (backward) but were nonetheless integrated into the notion of a “Japanese People”.

The Meiji ‘bunmei’ world order did not affect assimilation policy, rather assimilation of the Ainu and the Okinawans remained primarily based on outward aspects such as clothing and hairstyles

Unlike the ‘ka-i’ world order, the ‘bunmei’ of the Meiji government was ahistorical, thus not dynamic since it was based on harmony and hierarchy rather than in terms of production and progress

Japan, including its frontier regions, was seen by the Meiji government as the center of civilization, with peripheries merely occupied by barbarian ‘others’ that needed to be civilized

No, because he acknowledges the existence of predominant group of 'good' muslims

Yes, because even though he acknowledges that there are 'good' muslims, he still defines the muslims as the "other".