HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS		QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:

This Article Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Ulmen, G. L. Search for Related Content

The Dialectic of Enlightenment and the "Dark Continent"

Russell Berman has written a fascinating book about space and alterity in colonial discourse. The book has a Eurocentric focus: the time and world Berman discusses were Eurocentric. So, too, was the Enlightenment, and Berman explicates the encounter between European voyagers and non-European peoples in terms of the "dialectic of enlightenment." As a device, this works well. It allows a unity of focus in an otherwise varied assortment of topics. As he writes, his book is "neither a history of German colonialism nor an intellectual history of images of non-Europeans in German literature," but a look at "some specific cases...