From Ethnocentrism to Exploration

One of my most vivid memories of childhood intrigue is the globe in the library. I remember several occasions of slowly turning the globe around on its stand to study the “great big world” that stood right at my fingertips. I would point to my home on the globe, then spin it around as fast as it would go, only to stop the globe by placing my finger on a random place. Then, I would go find a book about the place where my finger had landed, and I would enthusiastically read and learn about another facet of this “great big world.” There’s just something about a map that invoked a wonderful sense of adventure in me that I still can’t seem to shake.

A map can revolutionize an entire society. In the medieval world, there was still an end of the earth that was yet to be discovered. One can only imagine the intrigue of medieval society when this realm of knowledge was unveiled through maps and exploration. Better yet, this new world became more than just a distant unknown, but a tangible possibility. 

The possibility of something more is the first step to overcoming ethnocentrism: the limited worldview associated with failing to evaluate cultural differences, or further, evaluating cultural differences according to the standard of one’s own culture. A primary example of this is the small-town boy who spends his entire life in his rural setting, never venturing or even seeking to learn about the world beyond the borders of his own culture. To an ethnocentristic person, anything beyond his cultural norm is “weird”, dismissing the consideration that perhaps he is, in fact, the “weird” one. Not to confuse ethnocentrism with patriotism, which is pride in one’s own culture or heritage in light of the differences presented. 

A map can bring these possibilities to light, which consequently invokes curiosity and appreciation of the “something more” that lies beyond our borders. When travel, books and knowledge were not always readily available in medieval society, it’s only logical that ethnocentrism would run rampant. (Did the Italians ever consider that perhaps they were the barbarians to the invaders of the Migration period)? But the sense of adventure invoked by a mere glimpse of the possibilities beyond is also the spark of exploration. It was this very spark of exploration that discovered a whole new world.

Though I seem to have moved on from the globe in the library to an 8x13 foot world map on my home bedroom wall, I hope I never lose the intense curiosity to discover our great big world, which, due to exploration, is becoming a tad bit smaller. Home is nice, but it’s also boring. I know that our Creator has an uncountable list of marvelous discoveries that He’s excited to share, and quite frankly, I’m excited to discover them.

So, I think I’ll leave the ethnocentrism to the Middle Ages.