Westernization

About: Westernization is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 1154 publications have been published within this topic receiving 15791 citations. The topic is also known as: occidentalization.

“a highly favoured country”? iranian travellers' views of late hanoverian britain

Abstract: For many years, Iranian views of Britain have been unfavourable. Yet, perhaps counter-intuitively, very positive impressions of Britain were formed by the first small group of Iranians to visit London, nearly two hundred years ago. They commented on everything; constitutional monarchy, politics, foreign policy, economics, society and social issues. In many cases their views of Britain contrasted with their unfavourable views of their own country, reflecting an eagerness to see Iran emulate Britain and embrace Modernisation/Westernisation. Yet their views were not uncritical and they were as accurate and as well-founded as the views of Iran put forward by British observers of Iran like Curzon.

Evangelización y occidentalización en la frontera sur del Reino de Chile. Los Franciscanos del Colegio de Misiones de Chillán, s. XVIII.

Abstract: This article aims at studying the participation of the Mission School of Chillan in the spiritual conquest of the indigenous communities of the sourthern border of the Kingdom of Chile towards the end of the Colony. Its purpose is to analyze the role accomplished by Seraphic friars in this time and place. Archival sources examined were mission reports, royal orders, travel diaries, letters, certifications and account books in the National Archive of Santiago de Chile. This information enabled us to determine the role played by the Santa Barbara hospice and the School of Naturals in the strategies of evangelization and westernization of indigenous communities. The hypothesis proposed is that until the second half of the XVIII century, in the sourthern border of the Kingdom of Chile, the missionaries of the School of Chillan developed not only a spiritual, but also a political role. Even though this role did not harvest the expected results for the Spanish Crown, it succeeded in generating spaces of communication between the hispanic-criollo authorities and indigenous groups at the border.

Doktor Abdullah Cevdet’te Din Algısı

Abstract: Doctor Abdullah Cevdet, who lived in a period in which trends of western origin were spreading rapidly in the Ottoman territory, is among the individuals who have been frequently discussed because of the ideas he defended and the manner in which he expressed them. Even though he was born into a devout family, he turned towards materialism and translated many works to Turkish, aiming to spread his views. While he was spreading his ideas through translations, books, and articles, he accepted that political preferences are tools for philosophical issues, and that the whole is organized by philosophy. His perception of religion was formed around these ideas which he transmitted to his country. Cevdet’s views about religion varies in relation to changes in his inner world, and the circumstances of his period. His criticism seems to be directed towards the way in which religion is understood or the problems of practical religiosity, but its dose increases in some places and turns into total criticism of most basic religious concepts. In addition, he never drew back from benefiting from the content of Islam to advocate his own views using this. For this reason his attitude towards religion was questioned, and he was accused by various groups of being an irreligious materialist. In this paper the religious understanding of Abdullah Cevdet who influenced religious polices and public understanding of religion in the republican period of Turkey will be discussed. Keywords: Abdullah Cevdet, Materialism, Religion, Westernization

Where Is China Headed? New Tendencies in the Humanities and Social Sciences

Abstract: China as a whole is facing a marked trend toward indigenization. The past thirty years have seen rapid and profound changes in the social sciences, heralding a new season in the humanities, in which the study of traditional culture has shifted from the sidelines to the center of academic research. Traditional culture, especially Confucianism, with its worldly orientation, is bound to play a central role in deepening and expanding the ongoing conversation with liberalism. At the same time, however, it must still develop values for structuring society and everyday life that are as influential as those of liberalism. The three main challenges to a Confucian revival today are the ruling ideology in China (namely, Marxism), the dominance of Western sociopolitical theory, and the current practices of disciplinary organization.

The crisis of modernity of the arab-islamic world

Abstract: The Westernization of Islam, which began at least two hundred years ago, has two major consequences: a positive one, meaning the enlightenment of the elites which tried to reform Islam; and a negative one, "the perverse effect of contact with the West", as the experts often call it, which consists of the development of religious sects within the Muslim societies. The direct and striking conclusion, upon first analysis, is that Islamic fundamentalism is the product of Western modernity. Of course, the line of explanation has its origin in colonial times, seen as a major disappointment by those Muslims who believed in the benefits of a European-style modernity, and continues with the Cold War period, with the examples of Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Afghanistan, where the mobilization of Islamist elements was beneficial in the fight against the Soviet enemy and the active proselytism practiced by the latter.