"Unthinking Eurocentrism:
Multiculturalism and the Media" takes on the challenging task of
critically examining power structures and discourses that stem from
Eurocentrism in contemporary media representations. Ella Shohat and Robert Stam
aim to completely rethink media subjectivities by deconstructing commonly
understood terms and theories, destabilizing national imaginaries, and
challenging the foundations of Eurocentrism. They adopt an adversarial
approach, acting as scholars, educators, and activists to question Eurocentrism
as an implicit subject positioning. They emphasize the importance of combining
multiculturalism with the critique of Eurocentrism to avoid merely creating an
accretive view of world cultures or simply inverting existing hierarchies. The
book aims not to diminish Europe but to deconstruct Eurocentrism, making Europe
one of many sources of culture rather than a singular one. Through a vast array
of mass media examples in film, video, and music, as well as historical references,
Shohat and Stam provide a comprehensive analysis. The journey they propose
spans temporal, spatial, disciplinary, intertextual, and conceptual dimensions,
creating a tapestry that mirrors the interdependence of cultural communities at
the heart of multiculturalism.
"Unthinking Eurocentrism:
Multiculturalism and the Media" is a valuable resource for advanced
undergraduate or graduate classes, given its depth and complexity. The book
assumes a certain level of reader knowledge and familiarity with a wide range
of concepts and textual examples. Some concepts are briefly mentioned without
detailed explanations, and many films are named but not extensively discussed.
While it may complement the reading list for first-year media graduate
students, incorporating it into an introduction to graduate studies seminar or
other advanced classes would be more effective.
For undergraduates, the book
may pose challenges as the vast array of films mentioned may not be accessible
for viewing, making it a potentially frustrating exercise. However, the
discussions of genre and in-depth textual analyses could provide balance to
other undergraduate readings. For teachers of undergraduates, "Unthinking
Eurocentrism" serves as a valuable resource, offering suggestions for curricular
design, discussions of films suitable for class, and general insights for
introducing multiculturalism into the classroom.
The authors define
"Eurocentrism" as a construct that sanitizes Western history while
patronizing the non-West, considering itself in terms of noble achievements
while viewing the non-West in terms of deficiencies.
"Multiculturalism," in their view, is a term pointing to a debate
rather than having inherent meaning. They propose pushing multiculturalism
toward a radical critique of power relations and emphasize the need for ethnic
relationality and community answerability.
The book sets out to
restructure and reconceptualize power relations between cultural communities,
providing a framework for debate. Spanning Africa, Asia, the Americas, and
Europe, it highlights the interdependence among cultural communities. The media
examples encompass dominant, counter, and resistant media, and theoretical
insights are drawn from both Western and non-Western scholars. The book also offers
insights on reorganizing media courses and film/video canons within each
chapter.
The core idea driving the
desire to "unthink Eurocentrism" and advocate for a radical
multiculturalism is the belief that most places in the world are inherently
hybrid and syncretic. The narrowly defined and sometimes arbitrary modes of
representing these places are not natural but result from institutional
discourses and power relations. Media representations play a crucial role in
identity construction, contributing to the isolation or affiliation of groups
of people. Shohat and Stam focus on discursive practices inherited from the
colonial period, asserting that despite contemporary concerns with
multiculturalism, it is not a new phenomenon.
In Chapter One, "From
Eurocentrism to Polycentrism," the authors deconstruct terms and theories
with intricate histories such as "West/East,"
"race/racism," "colonialism," and "Third World."
They illustrate the constructed nature of each term, the representational
tropes they generate, and how these concepts have become blurred over time.
Shohat and Stam emphasize the ambiguities of terms like
"postcoloniality" and "hybridity" to set the parameters of
their exploration. The material draws from film and media studies, cultural
studies, psychoanalytic theory, post-structuralism, history, and colonial
literature, demonstrating a cross-disciplinary approach aimed at political and
politicizing rethinking of media.
Chapter Two, "Formations
of Colonialist Discourse," delves into the history of colonialist
discourse, revealing the shift in representation and relations between Africa
and Europe post-1492. The authors show how colonialist discourse, rooted in the
past, has shaped contemporary debates and representations. Cinematic representations,
inheriting colonialist discourse, have contributed to the creation and
perpetuation of an ideological positioning of the "Other." Shohat and
Stam explore representations of Columbus's arrival in the Americas and
subsequent colonization, emphasizing how cinematic recreations of the past
reshape the imagination of the present and legitimize or interrogate hegemonic
memories.
Chapter Three, "The
Imperialist Imaginary," argues that cinema, as the world's storyteller,
has played a crucial role in relaying projected narratives of nations and
empires. The beginnings of cinema coinciding with the imperial project made it
an ideal medium to project narratives of national self-consciousness linked to
cinematic fictions. The chapter highlights the interconnectedness of cinema
with imperialistic narratives and discusses how national self-consciousness
became broadly linked to cinematic fictions. The authors analyze various films,
including those commemorating Columbus, to illustrate the cinema's role in
shaping imperialist imaginaries.
In their examination of
discrete genres and representations of colonialism, Shohat and Stam focus on
the Western and adventure films. They argue that cinema, serving as both
science and spectacle, was particularly adept at creating and sustaining
national imaginaries. The authors trace "the imperialist imaginary"
from early to contemporary cinema, emphasizing its role in idealizing the
colonial enterprise. The analysis includes examples from the Lumière brothers'
early portrayals of North Africans to modern films like INDIANA JONES. The
chapter illustrates how dominant cinema has spoken for the "winners"
of history and shaped imperialist imaginaries over time.
Chapter Four, "Tropes of
Empire," explores various representational tropes that underlie and
reinforce the national imaginary. Shohat and Stam analyze gendered tropes
connecting the colonized to eroticized geographies, dark continents, veiled
territories, and symbolic fantasies of rape and rescue. They examine
representations of women and non-Western bodies, using a blend of Freudian
psychoanalysis and post-structuralism. The authors explore connections between
cinema, history, anthropology, archeology, and cartography, emphasizing
Hollywood's role in asserting historical and empirical knowledge through
narratives pretending to these disciplines. The chapter contrasts mainstream
cinema with examples from documentary and counter-practice, providing
thought-provoking observations.
Chapters Five and Six,
"Stereotype, Realism, and the Struggle Over Representation" and
"Ethnicities-in-Relation," address issues of verisimilitude, truth in
representation, the struggle over representation, and latent multiculturalism.
The authors contend that filmic fictions inevitably bring real-life assumptions
about space, time, and social/cultural relationships. They advocate for a shift
from focusing on images to studying discourse, emphasizing the importance of
understanding the institutions disseminating mass media texts and the audiences
receiving them. Shohat and Stam argue that marginalized groups historically
lacked control over their representation, making it crucial to read texts
"from the margins" to reveal submerged cultural voices near the
surface.
In "Unthinking
Eurocentrism," Shohat and Stam highlight two key ideas. Firstly, they
emphasize that stereotypes of marginalized peoples exist not only in Western
but also non-Western mass media, illustrating the pervasive nature of
Eurocentric thought. Casting choices, linguistic decisions, and audience
expectations contribute to these representations. The authors assert that
self-representation goes beyond marginalized individuals gaining control of
production tools; it involves understanding stereotypes as part of a continuum
influenced by various forces. The privileging of discursive analysis encourages
recognizing that stereotyped representations are intertwined with other
sociocultural factors.
Secondly, Shohat and Stam
advocate for a syncretic understanding of multicultural societies, urging scholars
to move beyond race-based binaries and consider ethnicities within ethnic
groups. They use "The Jazz Singer" as an example, highlighting the
need for a relational approach that considers both racial and ethnic
dimensions. The authors argue for a multicultural approach that recognizes the
interdependence of cultural communities in diverse populations. This syncretism
is linguistic and cultural, fostering a conflictual yet creative intermingling
of cultures. Chapters Five and Six link racial and ethnic representations to
the multicultural society, challenging readers to rethink not only media
representation but also their own perspectives shaped by these representations.
Chapters Seven and Eight shift
the focus to specific films made by Third World filmmakers, exploring "The
Third Worldist Film" and "Esthetics of Resistance." These
chapters examine historical and contemporary radical political cinemas,
showcasing films that counter Eurocentrism and propose alternative truths. The
films presented attack Eurocentrism through formal innovation and a rejection
or reconfiguration of hegemonic Hollywood conventions. Shohat and Stam
underscore the radical potential of multicultural film and video practices,
emphasizing that these works offer counter-narratives and counter-truths
informed by an anti-colonialist perspective.
The authors conclude the book
by discussing the relevance and radical implications of "unthinking
Eurocentrism" for the classroom. They emphasize the indispensable need for
re-envisioning global politics and advocate for a pedagogical approach that
includes the deconstruction of spectatorship. In doing so, they provide
practical suggestions for rethinking audiovisual pedagogy. "Unthinking
Eurocentrism" is recognized as an important and groundbreaking work,
offering a truly multicultural and interdisciplinary approach to media studies.
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