Unthinking Eurocentrism: Multiculturalism and the Media / Edition 1

by Ella Shohat, Robert Stam

Overview

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 Eurocentricism 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. Synthesizing literary

theory, media theory and cultural studies to form a challenging interdisciplinary study, the authors agree that current debates about Eurocentrism and Afrocentrism are merely surface manifestations of a deep-rooted shift: the decolinization of global culture.

author of Strange Weather)

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780415063258
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	11/09/1994
Series:	Sightlines Series
Pages:	428
Product dimensions:	0.87(w) x 6.14(h) x 9.21(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Robert Stam is University Professor at New York University. He is the author or co-author of more than 15 books, which have been translated, in their entirety or in part, into 17 languages. He has lived and taught in France, Brazil, Germany, Tunisia, and the U.A.E. (Abu Dhabi), and has received Rockefeller, Fulbright, Guggenheim, and Princeton's Davis Center for Historical Studies Awards.

Ella Shohat is Professor of Cultural Studies at New York University. Translated into diverse languages, her books include: Taboo Memories, Diasporic Voices; Israeli Cinema; Talking Visions; and with Robert Stam, Multiculturalism, Postcoloniality and Transnational Media; Flagging Patriotism; and Race in Translation.　Her awards include Fulbright, Rockefeller, and the Society for the Humanities at Cornell University, where she also taught at The School of Criticism & Theory.　　

Table of Contents

Introduction 1. From Eurocentrism to Polycentrism 2. Formations of Colonialist Discourse 3. The Imperial Imaginary 4. Tropes of Empire 5. Stereotype, Realism and the Struggle over Representation 6. Ethnicities-in-Relation 7. The Third Worldist Film 8. Aesthetics of Resistance 9. The Politics of Multiculturalism in the Postmodern Age 10. Twenty Years After: Thinking about Unthinking

Editorial Reviews

"Unthinking Eurocentrism was so refreshing because of the confidence of its eclecticism, the forcefulness of its arguments, the range of its geographical and linguistic materials, and the way it brought indigenous issues to the centre of political and intellectual debate. The obligation to ‘unthink Eurocentrism’ has not diminished in the last twenty years, so the 2014 edition is welcome, with the new Afterword amply demonstrating that Shohat and Stam have lost none of their stamina or their lucidity. Readers’ horizons will again be broadened."

Peter Hulme, Department of Literature, Film, and Theatre Studies, University of Essex

"Unthinking Eurocentrism was a hugely influential book, and remains so twenty years later. It informed my approach to the study of film from early on, in conveying how film and media countersign ideology and the subtle workings of social consciousness. It taught me to approach film not solely as text, but first and foremost as context; to focus on film culture and mediated discourse. Unthinking Eurocentrism’s utter exuberance of referencing was particularly inspirational. Confidently flowing and cutting across cultures and discourses whilst revealing patterns of othering and orientalisation that work throughout the world, both outside and within Europe, it motivates and excites. This is how I want all writing on film to be: rich and intense. It is a book that shaped, and continues shaping, all my work."

Dina Iordanova, Professor of Global Cinema and Creative Cultures and Director of the Centre for Film Studies, University of St. Andrews

From the Publisher