Nowhere is not the center

Author: Wang Mingming
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2003-09-01
Features: In a small classroom in London, on the pilgrimage route to Santiago de Compostela in Spain, amidst the flow of ancient history in Bologna, in Chicago's "capitalist worldview," in the meditative footsteps wandering in the Sahara Desert, walking on the path of cross-cultural dialogue, the footprints left behind are the words of a nomad. "Nowhere is the center," from the preface of Joseph Esherick's Chronicles of the Outer Regions. The complete sentence has been quoted at the beginning of the main text of this book. Its meaning is now a common geographical knowledge: that since the Earth is round, there is no place in the world that cannot be defined as the center. In this new era, to quote the book of ancient Chinese-Europeans would seem outdated. However, for us today, these four characters have not lost their significance. For me, "nowhere is the center" vaguely expresses the simple truth that social anthropologists have long been committed to explaining: if we believe we possess the only "rational and reasonable" culture in the world, we may lose the opportunity to understand ourselves and even lose our neighbors. Acknowledging that others' world is the center and diligently studying this center can help us treat ourselves kindly.