Schemas are “idea’s, images and theories which might be negative, positive or relatively neutral” as John Bowen says in his paper, Anti-Americanism as Schemas and Diacritics in France and Indonesia. Schemas are different according to national, geographical, political, historical, and religious and all the features which are influential in forming people’s minds. They might be universal, national or regional. (Bowen)
According to Bowen, different people have different or even contradictory schemas in mind. They may be positive, negative or neutral and current events can change them or bring some of them into salience.
Worldweb.princton.edu defines Schema as “an international representation of the world, an organization of the concepts and actions that can be revised by new information about the world”.
America as a country with universal influence has got a variety of schemas in the universal or national scales. Power, technology, liberalism, individualism and pluralism are some of the universal schemas about America. In the national scales, in France for example, it is famous for liberalism, economic imperialism and especially among French Muslims, Jewish media control, as Bowen says. In recent years, after attacking Iraq and America’s unlimited support for Israel, negative schemas have gained salience among Muslims. War, conspiracy and anti-Islamism are among them.
In Iran, regarding the history of United States’ meddling with the internal affairs and its backing Iraq in the eight year war against Iran, negative schemas have been so dominant. Expansionist, exploitative, pro-Israel, anti-Islam are some of them, besides other ideas which could be considered positive or neutral exist as well. Among them are words such as economic and military power, technology and science.
I asked some students in the University of Tehran and Olum Tahghighat to write down the first three words that come to their minds hearing the word “America”. Let’s have a glance at the answers.
Age 23, MA French literature:
Democracy, Oil, freedom of thought and speech
Age 26, PhD Geomorphology:
Superpower, Nuclear power, Oppression
Age 24, MA Environment Designing
Gray, Undisciplined, Crowded, Expansive
Age 24, MA Educational Management
Iraq, Bush, Lie
Age 24, MA Adult Education
War, Power, Science
Age 24, MA City Designing
Ambiguity, Multiple Ethnicities, Scare
Age 23, MSC Accountancy
Welfare, Oppression, Economy
Age 24, Electronic Engineering
Offence, Science, Obama
Age 25, PhD Biology
According to Bowen, different people have different or even contradictory schemas in mind. They may be positive, negative or neutral and current events can change them or bring some of them into salience.
Worldweb.princton.edu defines Schema as “an international representation of the world, an organization of the concepts and actions that can be revised by new information about the world”.
America as a country with universal influence has got a variety of schemas in the universal or national scales. Power, technology, liberalism, individualism and pluralism are some of the universal schemas about America. In the national scales, in France for example, it is famous for liberalism, economic imperialism and especially among French Muslims, Jewish media control, as Bowen says. In recent years, after attacking Iraq and America’s unlimited support for Israel, negative schemas have gained salience among Muslims. War, conspiracy and anti-Islamism are among them.
In Iran, regarding the history of United States’ meddling with the internal affairs and its backing Iraq in the eight year war against Iran, negative schemas have been so dominant. Expansionist, exploitative, pro-Israel, anti-Islam are some of them, besides other ideas which could be considered positive or neutral exist as well. Among them are words such as economic and military power, technology and science.
I asked some students in the University of Tehran and Olum Tahghighat to write down the first three words that come to their minds hearing the word “America”. Let’s have a glance at the answers.
Age 23, MA French literature:
Democracy, Oil, freedom of thought and speech
Age 26, PhD Geomorphology:
Superpower, Nuclear power, Oppression
Age 24, MA Environment Designing
Gray, Undisciplined, Crowded, Expansive
Age 24, MA Educational Management
Iraq, Bush, Lie
Age 24, MA Adult Education
War, Power, Science
Age 24, MA City Designing
Ambiguity, Multiple Ethnicities, Scare
Age 23, MSC Accountancy
Welfare, Oppression, Economy
Age 24, Electronic Engineering
Offence, Science, Obama
Age 25, PhD Philosophy
Multiple Ethnicities, Technology, Humanism
Multiple Ethnicities, Technology, Humanism
Age 25, PhD Biology
Multilateral strength, Modernism, Expansion
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