Eurocentric racism operates through abstract, indirect, even democratic forms

Evidence

Those advancing the proposition that the United States should “bring democracy” were committed activists who didn’t understand that they were using colonial and Eurocentric (or US-centric) frameworks, which work by naturalizing power dynamics and concealing imperial prerogatives. Ella Shohat and Robert Stam in their book Unthinking Eurocentrism teach us that Eurocentrism “envisions the world from a single privileged point” and creates racialized others of colonized people. Moreover, Eurocentric racism is not always obvious but manifests, they note, in “abstract, indirect, submerged, even ‘democratic’ forms.” — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 69

Categorization

Category: Definitional Content

• DEFINE: Shohat and Stam’s definition of Eurocentrism as envisioning the world from a single privileged point, with racism manifesting in ‘democratic’ forms.
• XREF: Relates to the critique of liberal color-blindness and ‘reverse racism’ discourse; and to Berger’s ways of seeing the single viewpoint.

Related

• Eurocentrism positions European norms as the implied endpoint of world history (similarity 0.78)