13.1: The Limitations of Western Civ. Courses

Why Do We Need to Make Our Courses More Inclusive?

Today almost every community college offers Western Civilizations and World Civilizations courses. Western Civ. courses were first introduced in American colleges and universities during the 1920s as part of the general education curriculum. Starting in the 1950s, several American universities began to offer history courses that enhanced the study of non-western cultures. By the mid-1970s many institutions offered "world studies" courses mostly based on cultural geography. During the 1980s, in response to increased immigration from Asia and Latin America, some Humanities programs offered a World History course to provide a broader experience than the conventional Western Civ. course. Although the focus continued to be on Western political history, it included a few regional histories that were shaped to fit into the timeline of Western civilizations. By the mid-1980s both faculty and students across the nation criticized the Eurocentric focus of Western Civ. courses and advocated for the inclusion of histories of women, non-white, non-Christian, and non-European cultures. On January 15, 1987, Jesse Jackson joined nearly 500 protestors at Stanford University, and their chant "Hey hey, ho ho, Western Civ has got to go" drew national attention. Students and faculty rallied to express their concerns about Eurocentric courses in the core curriculum. By 1990 Stanford University replaced its Western Culture course with a CIV (Culture, Identities, and Values) course that was more inclusive in terms of race, class, and gender.  

Let’s briefly review the fundamental limitations of Western Civ. courses and understand why students and faculty demand alternative perspectives and interpretations that are more inclusive and representative of the diversity of human civilizations. Many Western Civ. courses focus solely on European history, art, literature, and ideas, European Enlightenment, while ignoring similar intellectual movements in other parts of the world, and present European colonialism as a necessary stage in a constructed ideology of of human progress, and omitting the violence, exploitation, and oppression that took place in the colonies. Essentially, this approach overlooks the complex interchanges and mutual influences that have shaped human history.  For example, conventional Western Civ. textbooks present British colonialism as a beneficial development for people in its colonies in Africa and Asia, and suggest that British colonialism led to modernization, economic development, democracy, establishment of legal systems and administrative structures that promoted stability in the colonies. Figure 13.1.1, titled “From the Cape to Cairo,” published in 1902 in Puck, at the end of the Second Boer War, beautifully captures the Eurocentric mentality of nineteenth-century European colonizers towards Africans: it shows Britannia carrying a large white flag labeled "Civilization" with British soldiers and colonists behind her, advancing towards a group of Africans, one carrying a flag labeled "Barbarism." The message is that Britain leads non-Christian, non-Europeans out of ignorance through progress in the form of Western civilization. The problem with Eurocentric narratives is that they present a one-sided and distorted view of historical events, marginalize the contributions and experiences of non-Christian non-Europeans, erase the atrocities of the colonizers, and limit students' understanding of the richness and diversity of human civilizations. This is precisely why it is important to be critical of these perspectives in world history textbooks, and to include alternative perspectives and interpretations that are more inclusive and representative of the diversity of human civilizations. 

  Figure \(\PageIndex{1}\): From the Cape to Cair o, Udo J. Keppler, Library of Congress, in the Public Domain.  

 

  Figure \(\PageIndex{2}\): “The White Man’s Burden (Apologies to Rudyard Kipling),” Frederick Victor Gillam, The Ohio State University Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum, in the Public Domain. 

 

British novelist and poet Rudyard Kipling, a white supremacist, published “The White Man’s Burden” in McClure's Magazine in February 1899. The publication date is important for the following reasons: The Philippine-American War began in February 1899; In February 1899 the US Senate ratified the Treaty of Paris that officially ended the Spanish-American War, ceded Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines to the United States, and placed Cuba under U.S. control; and the concept of "white man's burden" provided moral justification for imperialism. Euro-American discourses perpetuate the myth that their “civilizing” mission led to progress, science, technology, and growth in the colonies. The cartoon shown in Figure 13.1.2 takes its title from Kipling’s poem “The White Man’s Burden.” Figure 13.1.2 shows Uncle Sam (US) and John Bull (Britain) rescuing Asians and Africans from the depths of barbarism to the heights of civilization. It is important to point out that this image reflects dominant ideologies of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. This textbook includes the cartoons of several anti-imperialists to explain how Eurocentric stereotypes reinforce systemic racism. Anti-racist history education is important to promote a more nuanced and accurate understanding of the past.