Abstract
This paper discusses the book, "Eight Eurocentric Historians": Max Weber, Lynn White, Jr., Robert Brenner, Eric L. Jones, Michael Mann, John A. Hall, Jared Diamond, and David Landes. This paper describes the book's thesis that challenges the concept of European diffusionism, the belief that the rise of Europe to modernity and world dominance is due to some unique European quality of race, environment, culture, mind or spirit and that progress for the rest of the world results from the diffusion of European civilization. The paper author states that the role of each of these eight historians in generating colonialist understandings of history is not only proven to be extinct but also to be based on fallacious assumptions.

From the Paper
"The book first defines the eurocentric diffusionist model of the world as one that invents a permanent world core, an "Inside," in which cultural evolution is natural and continuous, and a permanent periphery, an "Outside," in which cultural evolution is mainly an effect of the diffusion of ideas, commodities, settlers and political control from the core. The ethno history of the doctrine is traced from its 16th-century origins, through its efflorescence in the period of classical colonialism, to its present form in theories of economic development, modernization and new world order. Blaut demonstrates that most "Western" scholarship is to some extent diffusionist and based implicitly on the idea that the world has one permanent center from which culture-changing ideas tend to emanate. Eurocentric diffusionism has shaped our attitudes concerning race and the environment, psychology and society, technology and politics."

Tags:weber, brenner

Abstract
This paper refutes the old notion that it was Chinese cultural isolationism that caused Qing China to evade European influence. This paper provides a full exploration of the connections to other regional powers during the Qing period. The paper further discusses the bordering areas that were a grave concern to the Qing Dynasty as a foreign Manchu entity that had usurped Ming power. The paper provides examples of the complexity of East Asian and other Asian relations, Qing strategies, and the natural response to European involvement of trying to close China's borders. The paper also reviews domestic problems that threatened Qing power.

From the Paper
"A mistake was made for many years of seeing China - or all of East Asia -- as isolated from outside influence, as part of a Eurocentric view of world history. The idea of China as especially stagnant and backward, and thus, unwilling to open her doors to Western business activities, helped a number of rationales for European imperialism, in ideas of what might be for China's own good, or the irrationality of permitting Western permanence in the region. In contrast, one can see how Chinese influence extended through most of Asia and far beyond, especially after the 16th century, as a result of the Qing consolidation."

Tags:qingchina, isolationism, diffusionism