Struggling to Understand [Will Brehm, Week 7, Substantive]

The Chakrabarty article argues a thesis that cuts deep into Western thinking generally, American specifically: the “Europanization” of history hinders our ability to truly understand other social imaginaries—that realities other than our own actually exist. Since these “transition narrative[s]” for the Third World are defined by “development, modernization, [and] capitalism” in hopes of achieving our standard of modernity, it becomes unbelievably difficult for Westerners (Americans) to understand a problem lives precisely in the narrative alone, the root of the problem. Constructing narratives define our reality; when these realities are proven wrong, we do not want to accept we perceived wrongly. It is like the Tooth Fairy narrative many parents in America create while children loose teeth: completely fictional but totally accepted. More importantly, sometimes the realization of an imagined Tooth Fairy shocks young children; no one likes giving up ones innocence, constructed reality. The problem of creating “European” history and then pushing it around the world reinforces our narrative of the Third World, our belief systems, and the superiority of our system of governance. Additionally, this thinking creeps into the realities of the countries in question. Being told this narrative may be false will shock many into denial; many will resort back to the narrative because it is easy and well known. The question becomes how does a culture change its narrative to incorporate a move global view?