Ethnocentrism And Ethnocentrism

Literature is frequently comprehended by most people as a mass of writings. In particular, it refers to those reckoned to have creative or rational aptitude, or which deploy languages which departed from the common usage. Global literature, on the other hand, has two different definitions where the first one explains it as the summation of all literatures of the world, including personal and nationalized work. The second definition is, global literature consists of the world’s classics, or the most sought after works that are read across time, ethnic and language borders in which they were produced and become the intercontinental patrimony of civilization. (Gafrik, 2009, p. 28) Global literature penetrates deep into cultural diversities and

In this way, ethnocentrism, racism and stereotypes towards other cultures can be hindered. Ethnocentrism is a term created by William Graham Sumner in 1906 which signifies the belief where one 's own race or ethnic group is the most notable or the elements of a culture are superior to another. (Boundless, 2015) while racism refers to various ideas supporting that the basic significance of an individual can be inferred by the standard racial category and that social prejudice by race is therefore admissible. This kind of feelings will result in making fallacious speculations about others ' actions based on their own evaluation, norms and beliefs. For instance, in the story of ‘Baseball Saved Us’ by Ken Mochizuki, a Japanese-American boy called Shorty, who, through playing baseball, pursues self-confidence after he was ridiculed by his schoolmates. In America, baseball is considered as part of their culture as to know the nature of America, one should learn the rules and realities of the baseball. (Barzun, 1940) Shorty, his family and the other Japanese-Americans have been evacuated to the Camp which was supervised by American armies as they were deemed as threats to America due to the bombing of the Pearl Harbor during World War II. In the story, Shorty, who was usually the last choice to be a team member of any sports because of his small size. However, during the Camp, he learnt and practiced baseball until he was chosen to play with the school team in the baseball game. However, before the game started, he heard someone called him ‘Jap’ which to him, it meant that they hate him as he is Japanese and underrated his abilities. He felt disheartened, but soon, he was determined to prove himself worthy and he succeeded. It can be clearly seen that, the Americans in this story was having stereotypes towards Japanese-American that they were