About the blog
The Silk Road: A Joint Afro-Eurasian Venture
The term “Silk Road” was first coined by the German traveler and geographer Ferdinand Freiherr von Richthofen to refer to the routes along which Chinese silk moved from the Han Empire (206 BCE–220 CE) to Central Asia and from which the Han learned about western geography. The term was later broadened to refer to the land and maritime trade routes between East Asia and the Mediterranean, spanning through center Eurasia and some parts of the African continents. Far more than a centuries-long exchange of silk between the East and West, the Silk Road encompasses the trade, diplomacy, conquest, migration, and pilgrimage that facilitated the transfer of goods and ideas—both deliberate and incidental—deepening the integration of the Afro-Eurasian continent from the Neolithic era to modern times.
The silk road has no clearly identifiable point of departure and was more in the nature of a growing acquaintanceship than a sudden encounter. Yet, its impact on world history remains profound. By understanding the biological, technological, and cultural connections that spanned the continent, we come to see that much of what is considered the intellectual, religious, political, or economic heritage of “the West” and “the East” are at their core, diverse manifestations of a shared Afro-Eurasian history.
Exploring Eurasia and the Significance of the Silk Road
From the Capital of the Alps (Grenoble) to the Golf of Thailand, my journey to the east will bring me through the Alps, across the Balkans, sailing the Mediterranean Sea, exploring the Aegan Region and Anatolia, discovering the Caucasus, crossing the Aral Karakum and Kysylkum Deserts, through the Tian Shan mountains, the Tarim Basin, the Loess plateau, the Chinese plain, the Southern hills and finally to the South Asian coasts of Eurasia (tentative itinerary). This will be an opportunity for me to learn and write about how the Silk Road shaped the history of the places I will encounter and the ways of life of its people, as well as how their civilizations contributed to its legacy. While differences between populations can be seen as a threat, categorized as inferior traits negating a conceived ideal of human potential and endangering the stability of a society, reformulated to arouse destructive patriotic sentiments used to maintain established orders and to ensure the promotion of the interests of a few, the articles posted in this blog will offer an opposite idea of difference as the origine of evolution, an enabler of progress, and as the essence of humanity. One of the most fascinating aspects of the silk road is how communication, connectivity and interaction has throughout history been at the root of the singular cultural, scientific and spiritual evolutions of societies, separated by mountains, deserts and seas, but unified through their heritage. As constitutive parts of a wider whole, individuals and civilizations are relational by nature and cannot evolve in isolation. But the way their relational nature with others is conceived will determine the nature of their interactions, the effect of those, and their growth or decomposition.
About Me
Originating from Grenoble (France) and growing up in a family encouraging the learning of other cultures, I left for Canada in 2016 to undertake a bachelor’s in political science and philosophy at the University of Toronto, a multicultural melting pot where I discovered new ways of thinking from all over the world. Throughout my years at the university, a brief experience in Guatemala, and my exchange programmes at Sciences Po Paris and Oxford University, I developed a passion in philosophy and the concept of difference. I extended my studies through a master’s programme in Political Philosophy at the University Pompeu Fabra of Barcelona where I was given the chance through my master’s thesis to explore Spinoza’s philosophy of immanence through the political philosophies of Gilles Deleuze and Antonio Negri, supervised by Prof. Santiago Zabala. Following my university studies, I got the unique opportunity to join the UNESCO Regional Office for Eastern Africa’s Social and Human Sciences (SHS) Sector, and later both the Social and Human Sciences (SHS) and Communication and Information (CI) sectors, in Nairobi (Kenya), as a consultant.
