center

egoism

universe

egoist

self-centeredness

is not at all a fixed locus but rather is a function, a nonlocus in which an infinite number of sign-substitutions come into play.

Henceforth, it was necessary to begin thinking that there was no center, that the center could not be thought in the form of a present-being, that the center had no natural site, that it was not a fixed locus but a function, a sort of nonlocus in which an infinite number of sign-substitutions came into play. (Derrida 'writing and difference' 'structure sign play' : 353)

is where power is exercised. The periphery, by contrast, refers to the areas affected by the decisions made at the center.

The centre, in this sense, is the place where power is exercised, such as the colonial or national capital. The periphery is one of the places affected by decisions made at the centre, such as a rural area where peasants produce for redistribution or trade from the centre. According to Immanuel Wallerstein (1974-89), a centre-periphery relation has characterized economic relations on a global scale since the end of the fifteenth century' (Barnard 2000:89).

center, n.Definitions

center