I find it a bit weird you haven’t at least heard of the Odyssey by cultural osmosis. I’ve never technically read it but I like know the basic points of the story.
If you said “non-westerners” to mean countries which don’t think of themselves as rooted is Greek and then Roman cultural history, then yeah I suppose. But any European country I would expect people to have learned it through osmosis.
I was creating a definition for this case, really. 'Western" generally is a relation to non-western, defining it malleably to suit imperialist needs. Sometimes Brazil is western (not Muslim, for example, in the war on the middle eastern Arab countries), but others it’s not.
In this case, I was saying that functionally, the important aspect for whether someone would absord stuff about the Odyssey has more to do with whether their country sees itself as a descendent of Greek and Roman culture. The west seems to think it’s the true followers (enlightenment and such) and so focusses more on it. Why would Chinese people care when the base of their culture was already also in existence with writing that also exists to read now?
I’m trying to think of how many whites know what the I Ching or the Upanishads are, and it’s not many, and it’s probably about that number, maybe a bit higher
I find it a bit weird you haven’t at least heard of the Odyssey by cultural osmosis. I’ve never technically read it but I like know the basic points of the story.
I’ve heard of Space Oddysey, does that count?
pretty much anyone who’s ESL would not hear it through osmosis
If you said “non-westerners” to mean countries which don’t think of themselves as rooted is Greek and then Roman cultural history, then yeah I suppose. But any European country I would expect people to have learned it through osmosis.
im curious to know if you think of a country like Brazil as western. Its interesting to see how the perception of “western”-ess varies.
I was creating a definition for this case, really. 'Western" generally is a relation to non-western, defining it malleably to suit imperialist needs. Sometimes Brazil is western (not Muslim, for example, in the war on the middle eastern Arab countries), but others it’s not.
In this case, I was saying that functionally, the important aspect for whether someone would absord stuff about the Odyssey has more to do with whether their country sees itself as a descendent of Greek and Roman culture. The west seems to think it’s the true followers (enlightenment and such) and so focusses more on it. Why would Chinese people care when the base of their culture was already also in existence with writing that also exists to read now?
I don’t know if that’s necessarily true. Greek history and mythology is taught throughout the world.
it’s not.
I’ve meet Koreans who know who Odysseus is.
and I’ve met Chinese and Indians who don’t
I’ve also met Chinese people who can speak Tamil
I mean I know it’s not literally taught EVERYWHERE, just that it some exposure in some non-western cultures.
I’m trying to think of how many whites know what the I Ching or the Upanishads are, and it’s not many, and it’s probably about that number, maybe a bit higher
I mean there are a lot of western Dynasty Warriors fans.