‘I deconstruct the idea of the West as a self-made entity,’ Josephine Quinn, professor of Ancient History at Cambridge, tells Sjoerd de Jong in the Dutch newspaper NRC. She is referring to her book ‘How the World Made the West’.

Quinn believes that thinking in terms of civilizations is not very useful.

‘You then have to think more in terms of networks, with sometimes unexpected connections.’

The idea of civilization is always an attempt at creating barbarians.

But we should not pooh-pooh civilization too vigoursly..

After all, we have toothpaste and anesthesia.

What does ‘Western’ actually mean?

Quinn: ‘There is much to be said for democracy as a truly distinguishing feature.’ But Athenian democracy didn’t have a ‘green card’, unlike the Romans: ‘They [the Romans] developed a concept of citizenship that wasn't ethnic or territorial, but political.’

The same old same old. A passport and genes, the lottery of life.

(a sf 2054)