“The West” : A conceptual exploration
Abstract
This article explores the transformation of the directional concept "the west" into the socio-political concept "the West". From the early 19th century onward, the concept of the West became temporalized and politicized. It became a concept of the future ("Zukunftsbegriff"), acquired a polemical thrust through the polarized opposition to antonyms such as "Russia", "the East", and "the Orient", and was deployed as a tool for forging national identities. The gestation of "the West" went hand-in-hand with the gradual substitution of an east-west divide for the north-south divide that had dominated European mental maps for centuries.
Citation
Bavaj , R 2011 , ' “The West” : A conceptual exploration ' , Europäische Geschichte Online .
Publication
Europäische Geschichte Online
Status
Peer reviewed
ISSN
2192-7405Type
Journal article
Description
Published by the Institute of European History (IEG), Mainz 2011-11-21. When quoting this article please add the date of your last retrieval in brackets after the url. When quoting a certain passage from the article please also insert the corresponding number(s), for example 2 or 1-4.Collections
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