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Unthinking Eurocentrism
Unthinking Eurocentrism explores issues of Eurocentrism and multiculturalism in relation to popular culture, film and the mass media. The book 'multiculturalizes' media studies by looking at Hollywood movie genres such as the western, the musical and the imperial film from multicultural perspectives, examining issues from the racial politics of casting to colonialist discourse and gender and Empire.
More than just a critique of Eurocentrism and racism, Unthinking Eurocentrism also confirms artistic, cultural and political alternatives, discussing a wide range of non-Eurocentric media including Third World films, rap video and indigenous media. Synthesising literary theory, media theory and cultural studies to form a challenging interdisciplinary study, the authors argue that current debates about Eurocentrism and Afrocentrism are merely surface manifestations of a deep-rooted shift: the decolonisation of global culture.
More than just a critique of Eurocentrism and racism, Unthinking Eurocentrism also confirms artistic, cultural and political alternatives, discussing a wide range of non-Eurocentric media including Third World films, rap video and indigenous media. Synthesising literary theory, media theory and cultural studies to form a challenging interdisciplinary study, the authors argue that current debates about Eurocentrism and Afrocentrism are merely surface manifestations of a deep-rooted shift: the decolonisation of global culture.
428 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1994
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About the author
Ella Shohat
29 books43 followersElla Habiba Shohat (Arabic: إيلا حبيبة شوحط; born 1959) is Professor of Cultural Studies at New York University, and has taught, lectured and written extensively on issues having to do with Eurocentrism and Orientalism, as well as with postcolonial and transnational approaches to Cultural Studies. More specifically, since the 1980s she has developed critical approaches to the study of Arab Jews/Mizrahim in the context of Israel and Palestine. Born to a Baghdadi family, Ella Habiba Shohat defines herself as an Arab Jew.
Her writing has been translated into several languages, including: Arabic, Hebrew, Turkish, French, Spanish, Portuguese, German, Polish, and Italian. Shohat has also served on the editorial board of several journals, including: Social Text; Critique: Critical Middle Eastern Studies; Meridians: Feminism, Race, Transnationalism; Interventions: International Journal of Postcolonial Studies; and Middle East Journal of Culture and Communication. She is a recipient of such fellowships as Rockefeller and the Society for the Humanities at Cornell University, where she also taught at the School of Criticism and Theory. Recently she was awarded a Fulbright research / lectureship at the University of São Paulo, Brazil, for working on the cultural intersections between the Middle East and Latin America.
(from Wikipedia)
Her writing has been translated into several languages, including: Arabic, Hebrew, Turkish, French, Spanish, Portuguese, German, Polish, and Italian. Shohat has also served on the editorial board of several journals, including: Social Text; Critique: Critical Middle Eastern Studies; Meridians: Feminism, Race, Transnationalism; Interventions: International Journal of Postcolonial Studies; and Middle East Journal of Culture and Communication. She is a recipient of such fellowships as Rockefeller and the Society for the Humanities at Cornell University, where she also taught at the School of Criticism and Theory. Recently she was awarded a Fulbright research / lectureship at the University of São Paulo, Brazil, for working on the cultural intersections between the Middle East and Latin America.
(from Wikipedia)
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
August 15, 2021
Are Egypt and India just backdrops for Indiana Jones? Are Native Americans just threatening our cowboys? This book clarifies that Eurocentric, pro-colonial narratives preceded film, and carefully addresses this history and the legacy of its stereotypes in film narratives. Finally, Shohat and Stam offer examples of films that cut against this stereotypical grain, and how they do it.
Enjoyable for a fan equally of old and new, American and international film. So many examples I recognized, and so many more equally interesting. Useful for any student of film as a course in reading and writing multiculturalism in film.
And insightful. Consider this nuanced response to “identity politics”:
”No one should be ashamed of belonging to the identity categories into which they happen to have been born, but one is also accountable for one’s active role or passive complicity in oppressive systems and discourses. “It Ain’t Where You’re from,” as Paul Gilroy, quoting the rap musician Rakim (W. Griffin) puts it; “It’s Where You’re at.” At the same time, it would be an act of bad faith to expect “minorities” to be color-blind toward the ethnically privileged, attentive only to their discourse and disregarding their affiliations. No one need perpetually apologize for the crimes of remote ancestors, but it would also be a crime to ignore benefits accrued over centuries, especially when those benefits “bleed into” contemporary situations of structured privilege.” (344)
So they describe what they are looking for in a just narrative as follows:
“A radical, polycentric multiculturalism, we have tried to suggest, cannot simply be “nice,” like a suburban barbecue to which a few token people of color are invited. Any substantive multiculturalism has to recognize the existential realities of pain, anger, and resentment, since the multiple cultures invoked by the term “multiculturalism” have not historically coexisted in relations of equality and mutual respect. It is therefore not merely a question of communicating across borders but of discerning the forces which generate the borders in the first place” (p. 359).
If you don’t have time for a 375-page book or interest in an in-depth discussion of film history, consider reading Stam’s & Spence’s 19-page 1983 article in Screen, “Colonialism, Racism and Representation: An Introduction,” which offers some of the book’s general insights with clear examples.
Enjoyable for a fan equally of old and new, American and international film. So many examples I recognized, and so many more equally interesting. Useful for any student of film as a course in reading and writing multiculturalism in film.
And insightful. Consider this nuanced response to “identity politics”:
”No one should be ashamed of belonging to the identity categories into which they happen to have been born, but one is also accountable for one’s active role or passive complicity in oppressive systems and discourses. “It Ain’t Where You’re from,” as Paul Gilroy, quoting the rap musician Rakim (W. Griffin) puts it; “It’s Where You’re at.” At the same time, it would be an act of bad faith to expect “minorities” to be color-blind toward the ethnically privileged, attentive only to their discourse and disregarding their affiliations. No one need perpetually apologize for the crimes of remote ancestors, but it would also be a crime to ignore benefits accrued over centuries, especially when those benefits “bleed into” contemporary situations of structured privilege.” (344)
So they describe what they are looking for in a just narrative as follows:
“A radical, polycentric multiculturalism, we have tried to suggest, cannot simply be “nice,” like a suburban barbecue to which a few token people of color are invited. Any substantive multiculturalism has to recognize the existential realities of pain, anger, and resentment, since the multiple cultures invoked by the term “multiculturalism” have not historically coexisted in relations of equality and mutual respect. It is therefore not merely a question of communicating across borders but of discerning the forces which generate the borders in the first place” (p. 359).
If you don’t have time for a 375-page book or interest in an in-depth discussion of film history, consider reading Stam’s & Spence’s 19-page 1983 article in Screen, “Colonialism, Racism and Representation: An Introduction,” which offers some of the book’s general insights with clear examples.
April 24, 2021
An execptional book that broadens your mind. Changes your view on the world and on take-for-granted assumptions about it fundamentally.
April 18, 2020
Good, comprehensive book.
April 28, 2025
3/5 Stars (%57/100)
Ella Shohat and Robert Stam’s Unthinking Eurocentrism offers a critical examination of how Western media and scholarship have historically framed non-European cultures, arguing for a more nuanced and pluralistic approach to representation. The book is rich in theory and examples, pushing readers to rethink familiar narratives and assumptions. While its ambition and critical insights are valuable, the dense academic language and sometimes sprawling structure can make it more stimulating in parts than consistently engaging as a whole. Studied this book in one of my master's classes.
Ella Shohat and Robert Stam’s Unthinking Eurocentrism offers a critical examination of how Western media and scholarship have historically framed non-European cultures, arguing for a more nuanced and pluralistic approach to representation. The book is rich in theory and examples, pushing readers to rethink familiar narratives and assumptions. While its ambition and critical insights are valuable, the dense academic language and sometimes sprawling structure can make it more stimulating in parts than consistently engaging as a whole. Studied this book in one of my master's classes.
February 12, 2010
This book is a must read for EVERYONE whether layperson, academic or critic. There are few books I've read even during my academic career that have managed to offer solutions on looking at media (particularly film) through non-Western eyes. It remains one of my favorites and continues to be a guide for me in both my work and my recreation.
May 5, 2009
Incredibly comprehensive analysis of racial and colonialist discourses influencing and influenced by global cinema. Dense, but still an entertaining read.
December 9, 2013
This is the big book on the whole notion of Eurocentrism. If you want to look deeper into how we view movies and film, check this out!
February 14, 2015
A book which attempts to deconstruct the Ethnocentrism so prevalent in the media today-- and succeeds marvelously at it.
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February 15, 2016A good book, and I am a little biased having worked with Dr. Ella for 5 years as a research assistant. She is a fantastic writer on countering eurocentrism
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews