Beyond 'Hellenes' and 'Barbarians'

Forty years ago, German historian Reinhart Koselleck coined the notion of asymmetrical concepts, pointing at the asymmetry between standard self-ascriptions, such as Hellenes or Christians, and pejorative other-references (Barbarians or Pagans) as a powerful weapon of cultural and political domination. Advancing and refining Kosellecks approach, Beyond Hellenes and Barbarians explores the use of significant conceptual asymmetries such as civilization vs. barbarity, liberalism vs. servility, order vs. chaos or even masters vs. slaves in political, scientific and fictional discourses of Europe from the Middle Ages to the present day. Using an interdisciplinary set of approaches, the scholars in political history, cultural sociology, intellectual history and literary criticism bolster and extend our understanding of this ever-growing area of conceptual history.