rather lengthy account of whaling practices in Boston. Silas Marner was once assigned in most great book courses in America. But in time, Moby Dick ’s literary stock went up and Silas Marner ’s went down. Today, Silas Marner is considered a derivative work, but Moby Dick is regarded as a great book. So curricula do change. But the basis for changing them has always been judgments of merit. What is new is that multiculturalists are seeking changes in the curriculum not based on merit but based on representation. They don’t argue that Rigoberta Menchu is better than Dante; their argument relies primarily on the fact that Dante was a white male and Rigoberta is a Guatemalan female. This is no basis for choosing great works or for giving students a good education.
“Shouldn’t people know something about other cultures?” Yes, but it is even more important that they understand
the foundations of their own culture, especially when their own culture is shaping the modern world. If you met an educated fellow from China who had never heard of Confucius but was an expert on Mark Twain, this would be odd. People are expected to have a basic comprehension of their own culture. Similarly, American students should be reasonably well versed in the Federalist Papers, they should know the arguments that led to the Civil War, they should be familiar with the New Deal and the Great Society, they should be acquainted with Ralph Waldo Emerson, Walt Whitman, and F. Scott Fitzgerald. Otherwise they will remain aliens in their own civilization.
“But what does Western culture have to say to blacks and other minorities?” Western culture is the only culture to take diversity seriously. Only in the West has there been a serious questioning of ethnocentrism, of the notion that “my way is the best way.” The Greeks were ethnocentric, in a fashion, but their greatest thinkers realized that truth is the property of no culture. The Greeks were interested in diversity not for its own sake, and certainly not to affirm the self-esteem of anyone. The Greeks didn’t have, for example, Persian History Month. But the Greeks studied other cultures because they wanted to discover what is universally true about human nature. The Greeks recognized that human nature comes draped in the garb of culture and convention. Only by carefully and critically examining other cultures in relation to their own could the Greeks hope to discover what peoples had in
common, and how they differed. The Greeks investigated the evident diversity of cultures to uncover the hidden truths about human nature.
“Give me an example of a Western classic that has something to say to a black man.” I can think of several, but let me give the example of Shakespeare’s Othello. Allan Bloom wrote a wonderful essay on this play for a book he co-authored with Harry Jaffa, Shakespeare’s Politics. In Bloom’s reading, which I am following here, Othello is a play about a dark-skinned man, a Moor, who is trying to become a full citizen of Venice. The problem is that Venice is a relatively closed society, an ethnocentric society, and it does not easily grant membership and recognition to foreigners. Othello is a convert to Christianity and he is a military hero, but this is not enough to give him entry into the inner citadels of Venetian society. So what does he do? He marries. He marries the fairest and most beautiful woman in Venice, Desdemona. And what does she see in him? She certainly does not marry him for looks because she says herself that she considers him ugly. Her attraction to Othello is that he tells wonderful and moving stories about faraway places and the grand exploits in which he has participated. Desdemona is a young and intelligent woman who feels restricted in the narrow, formal world of Venice. Othello represents for her a new world. But their relationship is based on a deep mutual insecurity that neither of them recognizes. The only person who recognizes this
“Shouldn’t people know something about other cultures?” Yes, but it is even more important that they understand
the foundations of their own culture, especially when their own culture is shaping the modern world. If you met an educated fellow from China who had never heard of Confucius but was an expert on Mark Twain, this would be odd. People are expected to have a basic comprehension of their own culture. Similarly, American students should be reasonably well versed in the Federalist Papers, they should know the arguments that led to the Civil War, they should be familiar with the New Deal and the Great Society, they should be acquainted with Ralph Waldo Emerson, Walt Whitman, and F. Scott Fitzgerald. Otherwise they will remain aliens in their own civilization.
“But what does Western culture have to say to blacks and other minorities?” Western culture is the only culture to take diversity seriously. Only in the West has there been a serious questioning of ethnocentrism, of the notion that “my way is the best way.” The Greeks were ethnocentric, in a fashion, but their greatest thinkers realized that truth is the property of no culture. The Greeks were interested in diversity not for its own sake, and certainly not to affirm the self-esteem of anyone. The Greeks didn’t have, for example, Persian History Month. But the Greeks studied other cultures because they wanted to discover what is universally true about human nature. The Greeks recognized that human nature comes draped in the garb of culture and convention. Only by carefully and critically examining other cultures in relation to their own could the Greeks hope to discover what peoples had in
common, and how they differed. The Greeks investigated the evident diversity of cultures to uncover the hidden truths about human nature.
“Give me an example of a Western classic that has something to say to a black man.” I can think of several, but let me give the example of Shakespeare’s Othello. Allan Bloom wrote a wonderful essay on this play for a book he co-authored with Harry Jaffa, Shakespeare’s Politics. In Bloom’s reading, which I am following here, Othello is a play about a dark-skinned man, a Moor, who is trying to become a full citizen of Venice. The problem is that Venice is a relatively closed society, an ethnocentric society, and it does not easily grant membership and recognition to foreigners. Othello is a convert to Christianity and he is a military hero, but this is not enough to give him entry into the inner citadels of Venetian society. So what does he do? He marries. He marries the fairest and most beautiful woman in Venice, Desdemona. And what does she see in him? She certainly does not marry him for looks because she says herself that she considers him ugly. Her attraction to Othello is that he tells wonderful and moving stories about faraway places and the grand exploits in which he has participated. Desdemona is a young and intelligent woman who feels restricted in the narrow, formal world of Venice. Othello represents for her a new world. But their relationship is based on a deep mutual insecurity that neither of them recognizes. The only person who recognizes this
Similar Books
