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Enemies of Civilization: Attitudes Toward Foreigners in Ancient Mesopotamia, Egypt, and China by Mu-chou Poo (Paperback, 2005)

by Mu-chou Poo Ancient civilisations came into contact with one ather through various channels, including trade and exchange, and warfare, which inevitably led to differentiation between 'us' and 'them'. The ways in which ancient societies conceived of this difference, and how it manifested itself in their culture, is the subject of this comparative history of attitudes towards foreigners in ancient Mesopotamia, Egypt and China. Rather than examining each civilisation in turn, Mu-chou Poo approaches the subject thematically exploring primarily textual evidence for key concepts such as 'self', ethnic identity, prejudice, cultural consciousness, and asks where these attitudes originated, why they came about and on what grounds they were based. What he finds is that, unlike today, foreignness was t thught of as a racial or biological difference, but was the result of cultural difference, involving issues of geography, language, religion and socio-ecomic development.

Place of Publication
Albany, NY
Series Title
Suny Series in Chinese Philosophy and Culture
Content Note
34 B/w Figs, 2 Maps
Author Biography
Mu-chou Poo is Professor and Research Fellow in the Institute of History and Philology at Academia Sinica in Taiwan. He is the author of several books, including In Search of Personal Welfare: A View of Ancient Chinese Religion, also published by SUNY Press.
Date of Publication
24/02/2005
Imprint
State University of New York Press
Country of Publication
United States

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