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Europeans Globalizing

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In this episode, Maria Paula Diogo and Dirk van Laak, authors of the book "Europeans Globalizing", reflect upon the views of non-Western countries on European technologies and innovations and how this has mediated European influence across the world. 

The episode begins with a story of the book ‘Occidentosis- A Plague From the West’ by Iranian novelist Jalal Al-e-Ahmad. Published in 1962, he condemned the prevailing 'Euromania' is his country. He perceived the intoxication of people with ‘the West’ as an illness transmitted by Western mass culture and technology - a strategy comparable to the Trojan horse. His book represents a wide-spread concern that is still relevant today: How can European or Western achievements, especially in science and technology, be adopted without succumbing to European values and attitudes?


Also in this episode...

The authors address the question of how the allure towards Western technology from a non-European perspective can be understood as they discuss the often dual perception of Western technology as a Trojan Horse and as a source of power. They assess how we can use this historic information to better assess the present. 


Links

  • You can purchase the book "Europeans Globalizing" at Palgrave Macmillan
  • For more insights of the Making Europe book authors, visit our Blog.

Featuring in this episode

Maria Paula Diogo
Maria Paula Diogo Professor

Maria Paula Diogo is Full Professor of History of Technology and Engineering at the School of Science and Technology, NOVA University of Lisbon (FCT/NOVA), Portugal, and member of the Centre for the History of Science and Technology (CIUHCT). in the early 90s, she has pioneered the study of Portuguese engineering and engineers and is currently working on engineering, the Portuguese colonial agenda and the Anthropocene, as well as the role of technology in European history and diplomacy, particularly in peripheral countries. She publishes on a regular basis both nationally and internationally. She is a member of several societies and international research networks.

Dirk van Laak
Dirk van Laak Professor
Dirk van Laak is Full Professor of German and European History from the 19th to the 21st Century at the History Department of Leipzig University, Germany. From 2007 to 2016, he was Full Professor of Contemporary History at the History Department, Justus Liebig University Giessen, Germany, He has worked on German, European, colonial and global history, as well as the history of technology and intellectual history. He also pioneered the history of infrastructures. He has published and (co)edited several books on a wide range of topics. His most recent book addressed the everyday and cultural history of infrastructures (“Alles im Fluss. Die Lebensadern unserer Gesellschaft – Vergangenheit und Zukunft der Infrastruktur” Frankfurt/Main: S. Fischer 2018).

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