Inadvertent reproduction of Eurocentrism in IR: The politics of critiquing Eurocentrism
Watch Juliette Tolay discuss her latest article in BISA journal Review of International Studies (RIS). This handy eight-minute summary will allow you to digest all the key points.
Juliette discusses the problem of Eurocentrism and how it creates inequalities in world order. Juliette's research has found that even when consciously trying to overcome Eurocentrism it is often inadvertently reproduced.
The article distinguishes between different types of inadvertent reproductions. In particular it highlights rhetorical critique, deconstruction, decentring and dehierarchising. These are illustrated through the example of Turkey's migration policies and how Turkish governing elites have openly claimed the need to upend the Eurocentric order, yet have reproduced it in practice.
You can read the full article at DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0260210521000176
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Full abstract
The study of Eurocentrism has become a hallmark of postcolonial International Relations theories. Of particular concern in this literature has been the resilience of Eurocentrism despite conscious efforts to move towards a post-Eurocentric understanding of world politics. This study argues that while existing works have highlighted many of the reasons why Eurocentrism persists today, it has not been sufficiently identified and conceptualised. In particular, why some policy actors, who have a vested interest in moving beyond Eurocentrism, inadvertently reproduce Eurocentrism? This article proposes to distinguish between different types of inadvertent reproductions. In particular it highlights rhetorical critique, deconstruction, decentring and dehierarchising, as different ways to critique, inadvertently reproduce and partially modify Eurocentrism. To illustrate this situation, this article looks at Turkey's migration policies and documents how Turkish governing elites have openly claimed the need to upend the Eurocentric order, yet have reproduced it in practice.
Image by Bernard Gagnon. Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported, 2.5 Generic, 2.0 Generic and 1.0 Generic license.
