Contested divergence

Interpretations of the distinction between East and West are more or less explicitly linked to historical accounts of changing constellations and interrelations. Even when the dichotomy is grounded in meta-historical meanings or principles, there is room for a narrative of self-discovery, oblivion and articulation. But the most influential and intellectually productive approach to this problematic allows for a more formative historical factor. The “rise of the West” is – despite widely divergent views on details – commonly seen as a world-historical process which changed the relationship between the ascendant region and the rest of the world, while at the same time transforming both sides. As I have argued elsewhere (Arnason 2003), a suitably redefined concept of the West is separable from the much less tenable notion of a uniform or undivided East, and the same must apply to the historical model to be discussed here. One of the questions to be raised when comparing its different versions is to what extent they still reflect a residual influence of the dichotomy. ¹