The Myth of Continents: A Critique of Metageography 9780520918597
In this thoughtful and engaging critique, geographer Martin W. Lewis and historian Kären Wigen reexamine the basic geogr
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English Pages 383 [360] Year 1997
Contents
LIST OF MAPS
PREFACE
INTRODUCTION
1. The Architecture of Continents
2. The Spatial Constructs of Orient and Occident, East and West
3. The Cultural Constructs of Orient and Occident, East and West
4. Eurocentrism and Afrocentrism
5. Global Geography in the Historical Imagination
6. World Regions: An Alternative Scheme
CONCLUSION: TOWARD A CRITICAL METAGEOGRAPHY
NOTES
BIBLIOGRAPHY
INDEX
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The Myth of Continents
Nicolas Sanson's Geographical Divisions of Asia, 1674. (Courtesy of State Historical Society of Wisconsin.)
The Myth of Continents A Critique of Metageography
Martin W. Lewis Karen E. Wigen
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PRESS Berkeley / Los Angeles / London
University of California Press Berkeley and Los Angeles, California University of California Press, Ltd. London, England © 1997 by The Regents of the University of California
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Lewis, Martin W. The myth of continents : a critique of metageography / Martin W. Lewis, Karen E. Wigen. p. cm. Includes bibliographic references and index. ISBN 978-0-520-20743-1 (pbk.: alk. paper) i. Geographical perception. I. Wigen, Karen, 1958- . II. Title. G7I-5-L48 1997 304.2—dc20 96-30294 CIP Printed in the United States of America 11 12
10 ii
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08 07 9 8
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of ANSI/NISO Z39.48-I992 (R 1997) (Permanence of Paper). @
Contents
LIST OF MAPS
vii
PREFACE
ix
INTRODUCTION I
I
I The Architecture of Continents
21
2 The Spatial Constructs of Orient and Occident, East and West
47
3 The Cultural Constructs of Orient and Occident, East and West
73
4 Eurocentrism and Afrocentrism
104
5 Global Geography in the Historical Imagination
124
6 World Regions: An Alternative Scheme
157
CONCLUSION: TOWARD A CRITICAL METAGEOGRAPHY
189
NOTES
207
BIBLIOGRAPHY
285
INDEX
335
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Maps
Nicolas Sanson's geographical divisions of Asia, 1674 frontispiece 1. Cold War metageography: North, South, and the Three Worlds 5 2. The seven "continents" and their displacement in the popular imagination 39 3. Seven versions of the "West" 50 4. Migrations of the "East" and the "Orient" 56 5. Toynbee's civilizations of A.D. 1952 128 6. "Civilizational" boundaries circa 1200 C.E. 145 7. Gilles and Didier Robert de Vaugondy's depiction of Asia, 1798 160 8. S. August Mitchell's view of Asia, 1849 164 9. Standard world regions circa 1975 168 10. A heuristic world regionalization scheme 187
vii
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Preface Foreign Minister Gareth Evans was determined to put Australia on the map. Literally. He arrived in Brunei in late July for talks centered around the annual ASEAN [Association of Southeast Asian Nations] foreign ministers' meeting armed with a new map depicting the land Down Under as smack in the heart of the East Asian hemisphere. The persuasive diplomat failed to convert everyone to his world view, however. "If I look at a map, I will immediately say that Australia is not part of Asia," Malaysia's Foreign Minister Datuk Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said under questioning from Australian journalists.