Xenophilia
Xenophilia or xenophily is the love for, attraction to, or appreciation of foreign people, manners, customs, or cultures.[1] It is the antonym of xenophobia or xenophoby. The word is a modern coinage from the Greek "xenos" (ξένος) (stranger, unknown, foreign) and "philia" (φιλία) (love, attraction), though the word itself is not found in classical Greek.[2]
In biology
[edit]In biology xenophily includes, for example, the acceptance by an insect of an introduced foreign plant closely related to the normal host. Xenophily is distinguished from xenophagy (or allotrophy), and is less common than xenophoby.[3] Early 20th-century entomologists incorrectly concluded that the evolution of the glandular terminal disk was a function of xenophily, following its discovery in myrmecophilous larvae.[4]
In culture and politics
[edit]Cultural appreciation refers to attraction or admiration towards one or more cultures which are not one's own. Individual examples are usually suffixed with -philia, from the Ancient Greek word philia (φιλία), "love, affection". Cultural xenophilia according to some sources can be connected with cultural cringe.[5] It may also be area-specific, such as led the Romans to believe that Greeks were better than Romans at music, art and philosophy, though evidently not better in military matters.[6]
National or ethnic xenophilias
[edit]- Anglophile: a non-English person who is extremely fond of all things English. Antonym: Anglophobe
- Australophile: a fan of Australian culture
- Austrophile: a fan of Austrian culture
- Canadaphile: a fan of Canadian culture. Antonym: Canadaphobe
- Europhile: a person who wants to increase cooperation between governments within the European Union.
- Fennophile: a fan of Finnish culture
- Francophile or Gallophile: a fan of French culture. Antonym: Francophobe
- Germanophile or Teutophile: a fan of German culture. Antonyms: Germanophobe and teutophobia
- Hellenophile: a fan of Greek culture (i.e. someone prone to philhellenism)
- Hibernophile: a lover of Ireland or Irish culture
- Indophile: a fan of India
- Italophile: a fan of Italy. Antonym: Italophobia
- Japanophile: a non-Japanese person with a strong interest in Japan or Japanese culture. Antonym: Japanophobe
- Judeophile: a lover of Jews or Jewish culture. Antonyms: Judeophobe and antisemite
- Kartvelophile: an interest for Georgian culture
- Negrophilia: a term used in the 1920s and 30s for the interest in Europe for African and African-American culture
- Persophilia: a fan of Iranian culture
- Russophilia: love of Russia and Russians. Antonym: Russophobe
- Galician Russophilia was a pro-Russian movement in Galicia and Lodomeria in the late 19th Century
- Sinophile: a non-Chinese person with a strong interest in China or Chinese culture. Antonym: Sinophobe
- Slavophile: a fan of Slavic culture
- Suecophile: someone with a great interest in the Swedish language and culture
- Turkophile: a fan of Turkey and Turkish culture
Allophilia
[edit]
Positive attitudes towards outgroups can be measured with the allophilia scale.[7]
In religion
[edit]Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, the English Orthodox Chief Rabbi, philosopher, theologian, and author, posited that xenophilia is deeply ingrained and central to Judaism.[8]
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ Flusty, Steven (2004). De-Coca-colonization: Making the Globe from the Inside Out. New York, London: Routledge. p. 208. ISBN 9780415945387.
- ^ Henry Liddell, Robert Scott, Henry Jones, and Roderick McKenzie. A Greek-English Lexicon. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1996. pp. 1189, 1939.
- ^ Pierre Jolivet Insects and plants: parallel evolution and adaptations (1986), p. 33: "(b) Examples of Xenophily. Conversely, xenophily is the acceptance by an insect of an introduced foreign plant closely related to the normal host. Xenophily, very different from xenophagy (allotrophy), is less common than xeno-phoby.
- ^ Tropical zoology (2001), vol. 14, p. 169, Centro di studio per la faunistica ed ecologia tropicali, Consiglio nazionale delle ricerche (Italy). "Earlier authors believed that the evolution of the glandular terminal disk was related to xenophily, probably because of its discovery in myrmecophilous larvae (Boving 1907; Brauns 1914"
- ^ Burke, Peter (2005). History and Social Theory. Polity. p. 85.
- ^ John Gray Landels Music in ancient Greece and Rome (1999), p. 199: "... it was a kind of xenophilia, which led Romans to believe that foreigners (especially Greeks) were 'better at that sort of thing than we are'."
- ^ Pittinsky, T. L.; Rosenthal, S. A.; Montoya, R. M. (2011). "Measuring positive attitudes toward outgroups: Development and validation of the Allophilia Scale". In Tropp, L. R.; Mallett, R. K. (eds.). Moving beyond prejudice reduction: Pathways to positive intergroup relations. American Psychological Association. pp. 41–60. doi:10.1037/12319-002. ISBN 978-1-4338-0928-6.
- ^ "Love Is Not Enough | Acharei Mot | Covenant & Conversation | The Rabbi Sacks Legacy". 2018-04-17. Retrieved 2024-05-13.
