“The West”: A conceptual exploration

Riccardo Bavaj

“The West”: A conceptual exploration

School of History

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

This article explores the transformation of the directional concept "the west" into the socio-political concept "the West". From the early 19th century onward, the concept of the West became temporalized and politicized. It became a concept of the future ("Zukunftsbegriff"), acquired a polemical thrust through the polarized opposition to antonyms such as "Russia", "the East", and "the Orient", and was deployed as a tool for forging national identities. The gestation of "the West" went hand-in-hand with the gradual substitution of an east-west divide for the north-south divide that had dominated European mental maps for centuries.

Original language	English
Number of pages	24
Journal	Europäische Geschichte Online
Early online date	21 Nov 2011
Publication status	Published - 2011

Keywords

Western Civilization
The West
Conceptual History
Intellectual History

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

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Riccardo Bavaj - The West
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Cite this

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KW - Intellectual History

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JO - Europäische Geschichte Online

JF - Europäische Geschichte Online

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“The West”: A conceptual exploration

Abstract

Keywords

UN SDGs

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