No Political Philosophers Outside of Europe

Just last week I was sitting in my Modern Political Thought class and came to the realization that every individual we were reading was a European Male. At that moment I quickly raised my hand unintentionally interrupting my professor's lecture. When he (a male of European descent) called upon me I asked, "Why is this class titled Modern Political Thought as apposed to Modern European Thought, since all of the thinkers we cover are European." It seemed that the question, which was admittedly a tangent but none the less more than relevant, caught him off guard.

At first he responded in a defensive manner and honestly if I was in his shoes I may have done the same. What really got to me was not his response, but the response of his girlfriend. She asked me, "Are there any non-European political philosophers?" Not only was I taken a back by the ignorance that lined her question, which I could tell by her facial expression was more of a statement, by I was almost instantly filled with anger as I realized that I could not name one political philosopher outside of the United States or Europe.

I have been reflecting on this moment all week and since then have struggled to name but a hand full of Latin American political philosophers, no Middle-Eastern, African, or Asian philosophers (actual Mao Ze Dong would fit into this category). This has been a reality check as to how much I have been shaped by an intellecual diet of soley euro-american thought. The practice of tearing away Native American children from their rich cultural heritage (customs, dress, language, art, philosophy, etc.) through education is a practice that is not only prevelent today, but has been institutionalized to a point that minorities thank their oppressors for "educating" their children.

If it was not for US/UK imperialism in Latin America it would be a much stabler place today and we would not have had so many individuals fleaing to the US in order to escape the wars and economic depressions that occured thanks to US intervention. Worse then the fact that these peoples were pushed from their home countries is the fact that once they got here many were restriced from speaking spanish in the classroom and were then taught the history of the world from the books of the oppressors. This is where Latino's find themselves today. Many not speaking spanish, having no access to the philosophies of their pueblo, and thinking that history has and always will be in the hands of white men.

As Latinos, as well as other ethnic minorities and women, have risen to higher and higher levels of the education system many universities have begun to introduce classes such as Latin Amerian Political Thought, Feminist Theory, Chinese Political Thought, and Afro-Caribbean Philosophy but as has come to be expected APU is years behind these universities. Though I am glad that there are now more and more students at this university who are demanding such courses to be taught, I am disappointed that my education was so euro-americancentric.