ABSTRACT
The West did not develop in a vacuum. The Asia of which Europe was aware played a crucial role throughout, not least as the “other” whose—stereotyped—image provided the foil for the West’s efforts at self-definition. Interaction and interchange with non-European civilizations enriched and reshaped Europe’s cultural, material, and political heritage. A systematic presentation of Asian contributions helps students see this process historically. It breaks through the image of the inevitability of Western history, and provides an opportunity to introduce the notion that context, chronology, and process continuously shape reality. At the same time, by introducing the rest of the world as something other than the passive recipient of Western progress, the tendency toward ethnocentrism is mitigated.
