The idea of 'civilisation' is only 200 years old | Josephine Quinn | UNAPOLOGETIC

Overview

Josephine Quinn argues that the modern idea of “civilizations” is not an ancient, neutral way of describing history. Instead, it is a relatively recent intellectual invention—especially over the last ~200 years—used to rank, separate, and justify domination between peoples.

Key Arguments and Analysis

“Civilization” as an Idea Is Recent and Politically Consequential

• Quinn argues that the concept of “civilization” entered European discourse in the 18th century, initially in the singular.
• It spread through Enlightenment-era beliefs in progress and education.
• The shift to “civilizations” (plural) emerges around the early 19th century in French scholarship, where cultures are treated as long-term, distinct, and “natural” blocks.
• Quinn links this framework to broader 19th-century trends: the compartmentalization of humanity alongside racial thinking.
• She emphasizes that the framework becomes influential because it feels like common sense—something “everyone knows”—even though it is historically constructed.

Why “Civilizational Thinking” Is Methodologically and Historically Wrong

• Quinn disputes Samuel Huntington’s claim that civilizations are transhistorical building blocks.
• She argues that the “civilizations” model obscures how history actually works: change happens through contact, exchange, travel, communication, and conflict, not isolated cultural capsules.
• She highlights that cities dissolve if you remove the connecting networks—trade, migration, technical know-how, ideas, and travelers.
• Her preferred metaphor is “roots and connections”, rather than sealed civilizations.

From “Civilizing Missions” to “Civilizations and Barbarism”

• Quinn connects Western imperial rhetoric to a durable narrative: imperial powers claim they must civilize those portrayed as not yet civilized.
• She argues that even when human-rights language emerges, the underlying logic can persist: once a group is framed as permanently uncivilized, policies of harm become easier to justify.
• She also warns that multi-civilization models can remain dangerous—particularly versions where only one civilization “matters,” reducing others to barbarism or permanent inferiority.

Modern “Barbarization” Narratives (with a Focus on the Arab/Muslim World)

• Quinn describes a growing Western—and sometimes other regional—discourse of barbarization/demonization targeting Muslim, Arab, and broader Middle Eastern civilizations.
• She argues this is amplified by the rise of nation-state thinking, which creates ideological openings to dismiss or degrade peoples that do not fit neat national categories.
• She further argues that Islamophobic narratives can overlap with other political projects, including Hindu nationalist framing—which she says attacks Muslims while also supporting Israel and viewing major Arab states with suspicion.

Historical Counterpoints: Real Interaction, Not Isolation

Crusades Era (as a Corrective Example)

• Quinn stresses that although the Crusades involved violence, they also produced long-term engagement and exchange.
• Europeans brought back technologies and innovations from the Levant.
• Later Crusader states depended on cooperation with local populations.
• Her focus is not only on the campaigns but on what followed: learning, adaptation, and technological transfer.

The Medieval Mediterranean as a Mixed Frontier

• Quinn argues that during much of the 11th–12th centuries, the northern Mediterranean coast was culturally and politically mixed (Christian/Muslim/linguistic overlap).
• She connects this contact to advances in European learning and education, alongside broader cultural transmission, including popular storytelling traditions.

Examples of “Hidden but Influential” Historical Networks

• Alphabet transmission
  • Quinn describes the alphabet as a world-changing technology enabled by travel and contact.
  • She points to early alphabetic writing linked to Egyptian contexts and Levantine languages.
• Plague and war as network accelerators
  • Quinn portrays plagues as “network events” spread through contact patterns that can trigger major cultural and economic shifts.
  • She also frames war as a mechanism that forces rapid learning and technological adaptation.
• Religious councils and networks (early Christianity)
  • She mentions Roman emperors convening bishops and councils to manage a dense, literate, well-funded transregional Christian network that emperors couldn’t fully control.

How the “Civilization” Story May Have Hardened into Exclusivist Identity Politics

Quinn argues that some foundations for later exclusivist civilizational thinking can be traced to shifts in late medieval and early modern Europe:

• The House of Wisdom model in Baghdad is presented as an example of openness and forward-looking knowledge gathering across cultures.
• Later, she suggests Europe’s shift toward exclusionary Christianity—alongside continental conquest and external pressure (Ottomans; European encounters with the Americas)—helped foster a mindset that ties religion, culture, geography, and power into boundaries rather than opportunities.
• She frames this as an origin-point for later racisms and dehumanizing “civilization vs barbarism” rhetoric, affecting both:
  • how Muslims perceive Westerners, and
  • how Westerners treat Muslim/Arab populations.

Outlook / Hope

• Quinn says she worries civilizational thinking is proliferating, fueling racism and chauvinism in Europe and elsewhere, including multipolar variants (Russia/China/India) and Western chauvinist variants.
• She also suggests the paradigm may be breaking down because key supports are being undermined—especially:
  • race science, and
  • the stability/legitimacy of older imperial or nation-state forms.

Presenter / Contributors

• Shakarim (host) / Karim
• Josephine Quinn (author; Professor of History at Cambridge)