The Dance Of The Siva By Romain Rolland

Ethnocentrism and its Effects on Third World Nations

Western civilization has always believed that their way of life is correct and any opposing way of life is uncivilized. They put themselves on top of a pedestal to promote their self-proclaimed superiority to all other cultures. This ethnocentric way of thinking has led to the abuse of third world peoples such as Indians and African Americans. For example, in Indian, Indian culture is being taken away from them while western culture is being forced in. This kind of cultural abuse does not only occur in Asia but also in the United States. Slavery has ended, but some still refuse to release their racist ideas and African Americans are left unprotected to be physically and emotionally scared.
It is their culture that sets them apart from other nations in the world. Removing what makes them Indians is only washing away a civilization rather than improving on it. China came into India under false pretenses; they claimed that they were there to help people and liberate them. In the foreword to The Dance of the Siva author, Romain Rolland, speaks his viewpoint on the imperialistic ways of western society. Because “the average European cannot see beyond the boundaries of his own individual life” (1985, xv), the Chinese saw their invasion of India as liberation of the people. But the Indians saw it for exactly what it was, an invasion. Liberators do not burn down villages and viciously rape women. Since the Chinese did not agree with the Indians practice Buddhism because they believed it made them weak so they wanted to remove all signs of Buddhism from India. However, by taking away their freedom to practice Buddhism, the Chinese were not creating a solution, but rather introducing a problem, because when the Indians lose Buddhism, they lose their culture and their sense of
Because one of the important beliefs is in nonviolence, slavery would not have ever came about. Many years of injustice would have never taken place because the “Western world, abandoning itself utterly to its search of individual and social happiness, maims and disfigures life by the very frenzy of its haste, and kills in the shell of happiness which it pursues”. (Rolland, 1985, xv). The west spends so much of its time searching for happiness that in attaining their wants they destroy the happiness of others. Especially through the way they “liberate” civilizations. Because western culture finds itself superior to others it feels as if they always know what is best for others. Instead of abusing these civilizations and erasing away the marks they have made on this earth, they should embrace the differences and try to mix cultures in order to make