The Rest was constitutive of the West’s identity and knowledge
Evidence
I also wanted to show the cultural and ideological dimensions of the West’s expansion. For if the Rest was necessary for the political, economic, and social formation of the West, it was also essential to the West’s formation both of its own sense of itself—a “Western identity”—and of Western forms of knowledge. — Stuart Hall, Essential Essays, Volume 2, 686
Categorization
- XREF: The claim that identity is formed relationally against an Other is the exact mechanism Islamophobia analysis borrows — the other is inside the self’s construction. — connects to: The West is a historical construct defined by development traits, not geography; The West concept classifies, represents, compares, and evaluates societies — Stuart Hall, Essential Essays, Volume 2: Identity…, 509; The idea of the West helped constitute the West itself — Stuart Hall, Essential Essays, Volume 2: Identity…, 514 (+14 more)
- corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Stuart Hall, Essential Essays, Volume 2: Identity…, 686
Broader Connections
- The West required the Rest as a conceptual opposite to define itself.
#corroborates(0.92) - Islamic challenge forged the collective identity of ‘the West’
#expands(0.78)