As China, Russia, and the other so-called BRICS nations rise in economic and geopolitical power, interest in these countries' language and culture is increasing in the West. Dr. Thorsten Pattberg of Peking University examines the ways that translation of certain key concepts misrepresents history and culture.
This is the GRTV Feature Interview for Global Research TV with host James Corbett and guest Dr. Thorsten Pattberg.
Interesting ideas were raised but the question still remains as to how one can possibly overcome the bias inherent to ones own culture. Is it really possible to understand the cultural, social and philosophical ideas that lie at the heart of an entire civilization as alien (to westerners) as China's?
The so-called West will instinctively demonize or Other any civilization that is different from it whether China, Islam, Arabs, or the East in general.
There is something deeply pathological about this Western mindset.
And it best expressed by what the Palestianian intellectual Edward Said called Orientalism--the process by which the West manufactures an image of the East to define itself against as a more superior, enlightened, or democratic civilization.
In short, when the West talks about the East, they are only projecting their own warped fantasies and delusions onto this "Oriental" Other.
Edward Said's _Orientalism_ should be mandatory reading for anyone wishing to understand how East-West relations really operation.
But I doubt most Westerners--especially Anglos--have the courage to do so.
Linguistic imperialism = the transfer of a dominant language to other people (R. Phillipson)
Language imperialism = the translation of another people's language (T. Pattberg)