westsplaining
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Westsplaining (a blend word of west and the informal form -splaining of the gerund explaining) is a pejorative term that represents criticism of Western world sociopolitical views of other parts of the world. It has been used primarily in relation to Western discussions of Central and Eastern Europe and its historical and current relations with the Soviet Union and Russia.
~6 min read
Article
6 sectionsContents
- Pre-2022 usage
- Russian invasion of Ukraine
- Reactions
- See also
- References
- Further reading
Westsplaining (a blend word of west and the informal form -splaining of the gerund explaining) is a pejorative term that represents criticism of Western world sociopolitical views of other parts of the world. It has been used primarily in relation to Western discussions of Central and Eastern Europe and its historical and current relations with the Soviet Union and Russia.
The word became virally popular during the Russian invasion of Ukraine after Jan Smoleński and Jan Dutkiewicz defined the word to mean "[the] phenomenon of people from the Anglosphere loudly foisting their analytical schema and political prescriptions onto the [Central and Eastern European] region", which "ignore voices from the region".