The discourse of civilization and pan-asianism

At the end of World War I, the idea of multiple civilizations as opposed to a singular Enlightenment Civilization gained acceptance with the emergence of anti-imperialist nationalism. The new civilization discourse was a product not only of the writings of Western thinkers like Oswald Spengler and Arnold J. Toynbee, but also of various intellectual, cultural, religious, and social movements in East Asia and elsewhere. Central to the understanding of civilization during this period was the extent to which it could be identified or conflated with a national ideal. The Japanese deployment of the Pan-Asianist civilizational rhetoric in China and elsewhere represents a complex case study of the potential of this discourse. As long as the civilizational idea could represent an ideal that transcended loyalty to the nation-state, it retained its critical possibilities.

Duke Scholars

Author Prasenjit Duara History