Europe made itself through overseas expansion rather than merely extending outward

Evidence

What this story misses is that Europe did not simply expand overseas; it made itself through that expansion. It also underemphasizes the role that Europeans—especially those who inhabit the United States—still play in regulating “world-wide society,” a role that is by no means “modest.” The borders of political Europe have varied not only over time, but also according to the European model governing global relations. — Talal Asad, Formations of the Secular, 837 (#expands, via linked claim)

This shows that “Europe’s others” were located primarily within Europe. The contemporary perspective of “others” as being located outside Europe, also retroactively, is a recent development of the last two hundred years, if only because the consciousness of Europeanness is recent. Second, otherness outside Europe was not necessarily as important as otherness within Europe, and was generally conceived along lines first developed in relation to Europe’s internal others. Third, “otherness” refers to a complex layer or web of differences that ramifies multidimensionally in many directions. If it is coded in cultural terms (in terms of religion, language, or ethnicity) it also signifies geographical, historical, political, class and status, urban and rural differences, all mingling within a fluid mosaic. Fourth, therefore it is not possible to produce a clear cognitive map of “others” because there is no stable or fixed notion of “self that could inform this. There is no fixed point or “view from nowhere” from which this can be conceptualized. The longer the period and the wider the geographical space taken into account the more difficult this becomes. Collective identities are stable enough to generate clear boundaries of difference only over brief periods. The mosaic of difference seems stable enough only in, say, 50-year segments. Some differences may seem to be of longer duration, but if we examine them closely it turns out that over time their meaning or function changes radically, so that continuity is a superficial impression only. — David Theo Goldberg, John Solomos, A Companion to Racial and Ethnic Studies, 184 (#complicates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: European powers controlled 84 percent of the earth’s land by 1914; Europe’s identity was constituted through, not despite, its colonial expansion; Europe constituted its own identity through overseas expansion — Talal Asad, Formations of the Secular:…, 837 (+7 more)

Broader Connections

• Europe constituted its own identity through overseas expansion #expands (0.97) — Talal Asad, Formations of the Secular, 837
• Europe’s self-construction against an Other drew mainly on its own internal realities #complicates (0.80)
• Europe’s others were internal and predate the external other #complicates (0.78) — David Theo Goldberg, John Solomos, A Companion to Racial and Ethnic Studies, 184