The many Americas: Civilization and modernity in the Atlantic world

- Smith, Jeremy

Title
The many Americas: Civilization and modernity in the Atlantic world
Creator
Smith, Jeremy
Date
2010
Type
Journal article
Identifier
http://researchonline.federation.edu.au/vital/access/HandleResolver/1959.17/69936
Identifier
vital:2704
Identifier
https://doi.org/10.1177/1368431009355863
Identifier
ISSN 1368-4310
Abstract
Civilizational analysis has not concerned itself too greatly with the historical experiences of the American New World. There are good reasons to correct this position and Shmuel Eisenstadt’s principal work on America’s distinct modernities goes some way to establishing the colonization of the Atlantic world as an opening phase of modernity. Nonetheless, a more far-reaching analysis of the distinctiveness of diverse American societies can be developed that goes beyond the image of a Protestant North America contrasted with southern Latin cultures. This article outlines the basis for a more nuanced approach in three steps: a focus on intercivilizational engagement (which goes beyond the notion of ‘intercivilizational encounters’ developed by Benjamin Nelson and Johann Arnason), examination of civilizational factors neglected by Eisenstadt and reconsideration of the conceptual range of the notion of ‘civilization’ itself. The archetype of two Americas is replaced by a model of four with some consideration given to indigenous civilizations as a fifth America.
Publisher
Sage
Relation
European Journal of Social Theory Vol. 13, no. 1 (2010), p. 117-133
Rights
Copyright Sage
Rights
Open Access
Rights
This metadata is freely available under a CCO license
Subject
1608 Sociology; 2203 Philosophy; Atlantic modernity; Civilization; Diversity; Intercivilizational engagement; Multiple Americas
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