Post-Classical Era As A Eurocentric Essay

Since the professionalization of world history the lens that historians would look through was supremely Eurocentric. The other parts of the world had their accomplishments and contributed to the world as a whole, but Europe was usually the protagonist in the stories told. More recently world historians have been viewing the world through what Ross Dunn describes as the “Different Cultures Model,” which looks at the past from the opposite perspective. The modern historians Lynda Shaffer, Xinru Liu, Deborah Smith Johnston, and Robert Marks do not view the Post-Classical Era as a Eurocentric. While all the aforementioned modern historians take on different topics in their writings, they all view the Post-Classical Era through the New World History …show more content…
Ignoring these changes in order to present a Eurocentric Post-Classical Era is neglectful to one’s students and their understanding of world history. Smith Johnston in her article, “World History Education,” wrote a convincing point by stating, “Programmes need to address at a minimum the following three aspects in order to be effective at training new world history teachers: first, detailed content knowledge in world history, not just national histories or European history; second, interactive classroom strategies; and third, long-range planning and curriculum or syllabus design.” History teachers need to have an understanding of world history that is beyond a Eurocentric point of view. When the content standard asks a teacher to account for the Silk Road and discuss its character and global significance and the teacher has only a Eurocentric world view then a lot of what Asia and the Middle East brought to the world is neglected. Using Shaffer’s Southernization is a completely different way of looking at the Silk Road and its global significance than a Eurocentric view would look at it. Not only Shaffer, but also Liu and Marks all touch on looking at the Silk Road with New World History