“Western superiority complex” is real
Compilation of some prominent scholars and authors whose work is often cited and discussed in relation to the topic of Western superiority complexes. In the context of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and occupation, I believe that’s why most Western countries (as well as their media) tend to exhibit a bias in favor of Israel.
1. Edward Said: His book “Orientalism” (1978) is a seminal work that examines how Western scholars and intellectuals have historically constructed the Orient (the Middle East and Asia) as a place of exoticism and inferiority, perpetuating Western superiority.
2. Frantz Fanon: In “The Wretched of the Earth” (1961), Fanon explores the psychology of colonialism and its impact on both colonizers and the colonized. He discusses the dehumanization of the colonized and the sense of superiority that can develop in colonizers.
3. Homi K. Bhabha: Bhabha’s work on postcolonial theory, particularly his concept of “mimicry” in “The Location of Culture” (1994), explores how colonized populations may imitate aspects of the colonizer’s culture while also challenging it, leading to complex identity dynamics.
4. Michel Foucault: Foucault’s ideas on power, knowledge, and discourse in works like “The Archaeology of Knowledge” (1969) have been influential in examining how Western knowledge systems and institutions can reinforce notions of Western superiority.
5. Stuart Hall: Hall’s work on cultural studies, including his essay “The West and the Rest: Discourse and Power” (1992), discusses the ways in which the media and cultural representations perpetuate stereotypes and notions of Western cultural superiority.
6. Saidiya Hartman: In “Scenes of Subjection: Terror, Slavery, and Self-Making in Nineteenth-Century America” (1997), Hartman examines the legacy of slavery in the United States and how it has contributed to ideas of racial superiority and inferiority.
7. Kwame Anthony Appiah: Appiah’s book “In My Father’s House: Africa in the Philosophy of Culture” (1992) explores questions of cultural identity, relativism, and the challenge of Western universalism.
8. Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak: Spivak’s essay “Can the Subaltern Speak?” (1988) discusses the silencing of marginalized voices in colonial and postcolonial contexts and the ways in which Western discourses can dominate.
