Orientalism

Orientalism PDF

Author: Edward W. Said

Publisher: Vintage

Published: 2014-10-01

Total Pages: 434

ISBN-13: 0804153868

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A groundbreaking critique of the West's historical, cultural, and political perceptions of the East that is—three decades after its first publication—one of the most important books written about our divided world. "Intellectual history on a high order ... and very exciting." —The New York Times In this wide-ranging, intellectually vigorous study, Said traces the origins of "orientalism" to the centuries-long period during which Europe dominated the Middle and Near East and, from its position of power, defined "the orient" simply as "other than" the occident. This entrenched view continues to dominate western ideas and, because it does not allow the East to represent itself, prevents true understanding.

Early Orientalism

Early Orientalism PDF

Author: Ivan Kalmar

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2013-06-17

Total Pages: 194

ISBN-13: 1136578919

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The history of western notions about Islam is of obvious scholarly as well as popular interest today. This book investigates Christian images of the Muslim Middle East, focusing on the period from the Renaissance to the Enlightenment, when the nature of divine as well as human power was under particularly intense debate in the West. Ivan Kalmar explores how the controversial notion of submission to ultimate authority has in the western world been discussed with reference to Islam’s alleged recommendation to obey, unquestioningly, a merciless Allah in heaven and a despotic government on earth. He discusses how Abrahamic faiths – Christianity and Judaism as much as Islam – demand devotion to a sublime power, with the faith that this power loves and cares for us, a concept that brings with it the fear that, on the contrary, this power only toys with us for its own enjoyment. For such a power, Kalmar borrows Slavoj Zizek’s term "obscene father". He discusses how this describes exactly the western image of the Oriental despot - Allah in heaven, and the various sultans, emirs and ayatollahs on earth – and how these despotic personalities of imagined Muslim society function as a projection, from the West on to the Muslim Orient, of an existential anxiety about sublime power. Making accessible academic debates on the history of Christian perceptions of Islam and on Islam and the West, this book is an important addition to the existing literature in the areas of Islamic studies, religious history and philosophy.

Orientalism in Early Modern France

Orientalism in Early Modern France PDF

Author: Ina Baghdiantz McCabe

Publisher: Berg

Published: 2008-07-15

Total Pages: 416

ISBN-13: 1845203747

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Francis I's ties with the Ottoman Empire marked the birth of court-sponsored Orientalism in France. Under Louis XIV, French society was transformed by cross-cultural contacts with the Ottomans, India, Persia, China, Siam and the Americas. The consumption of silk, cotton cloth, spices, coffee, tea, china, gems, flowers and other luxury goods transformed daily life and gave rise to a new discourse about the 'Orient' which in turn shaped ideas about economy and politics, specifically absolutism and the monarchy. An original account of the ancient regime, this book highlights France's use of the exotic and analyzes French discourse about Islam and the 'Orient'.

The Dialectics of Orientalism in Early Modern Europe

The Dialectics of Orientalism in Early Modern Europe PDF

Author: Marcus Keller

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2017-11-09

Total Pages: 252

ISBN-13: 1137462361

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Uniting twelve original studies by scholars of early modern history, literature, and the arts, this collection is the first that foregrounds the dialectical quality of early modern Orientalism by taking a broad interdisciplinary perspective. Dialectics of Orientalism demonstrates how texts and images of the sixteenth and seventeenth century from across Europe and the New World are better understood as part of a dynamic and transformative orientalist discourse rather than a manifestation of the supposed dichotomy between the 'East' and the 'West.' The volume's central claim is that early modern orientalist discourses are fundamentally open, self-critical, and creative. Analyzing a varied corpus-from German and Dutch travelogues to Spanish humanist treaties, French essays, Flemish paintings, and English diaries-this collection thus breathes fresh air into the critique of Orientalism and provides productive new perspectives for the study of east-west and indeed globalized exchanges in the early modern world.

Photography's Orientalism

Photography's Orientalism PDF

Author: Ali Behdad

Publisher: Getty Publications

Published: 2013-10-01

Total Pages: 226

ISBN-13: 1606062670

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The Middle East played a critical role in the development of photography as a new technology and an art form. Likewise, photography was instrumental in cultivating and maintaining Europe’s distinctively Orientalist vision of the Middle East. As new advances enhanced the versatility of the medium, nineteenth-century photographers were able to mass-produce images to incite and satisfy the demands of the region’s burgeoning tourist industry and the appetites of armchair travelers in Europe. In this way, the evolution of modern photography fueled an interest in visual contact with the rest of the world. Photography’s Orientalism offers the first in-depth cultural study of the works of European and non- European photographers active in the Middle East and India, focusing on the relationship between photographic, literary, and historical representations of this region and beyond. The essays explore the relationship between art and politics by considering the connection between the European presence there and aesthetic representations produced by traveling and resident photographers, thereby contributing to how the history of photography is understood.

Orientalism and the Jews

Orientalism and the Jews PDF

Author: Ivan Davidson Kalmar

Publisher: UPNE

Published: 2005

Total Pages: 330

ISBN-13: 9781584654117

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A fascinating analysis of how Jews fit into scholarly debates about Orientalism.

The Limits of Orientalism

The Limits of Orientalism PDF

Author: Rahul Sapra

Publisher: University of Delaware

Published: 2011-03-14

Total Pages: 222

ISBN-13: 1611490154

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The Limits of Orientalism: Seventeenth-Century Representations of India challenges recent postcolonial readings of European, and particularly English, representations of India in the seventeenth century. The book critiques Edward Said's discourse of 'Orientalism' by destabilizing the notion of a homogeneous 'West': the English interest was commercial, unlike the colonially and religiously motivated Portuguese, and therefore instead of representing Mughals as barbaric 'others,' the English travelers drew parallels between the Mughals and themselves in their writings, associating with them as partners in trade and potential allies in war. The Europeans praised Muslims' civility and religious tolerance, yet tended to be more conflicted with the Hindus, but eventually their negative views underwent a transformation, questioning the Orientalist notion of the homogeneous 'Indian.' By historicizing the European representations of India, the book undercuts postcolonial analyses by critics such as Kate Teltscher, Jyotsna Singh, Nandini Bhattacharya, Balachandra Rajan, Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, Shankar Raman and others.

Mind and Body in Early China

Mind and Body in Early China PDF

Author: Edward Slingerland

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2018-11-23

Total Pages: 352

ISBN-13: 0190842326

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Mind and Body in Early China critiques Orientalist accounts of early China as the radical, "holistic" other. The idea that the early Chinese held the "strong" holist view, seeing no qualitative difference between mind and body, has long been contradicted by traditional archeological and qualitative textual evidence. New digital humanities methods, along with basic knowledge about human cognition, now make this position untenable. A large body of empirical evidence suggests that "weak" mind-body dualism is a psychological universal, and that human sociality would be fundamentally impossible without it. Edward Slingerland argues that the humanities need to move beyond social constructivist views of culture, and embrace instead a view of human cognition and culture that integrates the sciences and the humanities. Our interpretation of texts and artifacts from the past and from other cultures should be constrained by what we know about the species-specific, embodied commonalities shared by all humans. This book also attempts to broaden the scope of humanistic methodologies by employing team-based qualitative coding and computer-aided "distant reading" of texts, while also drawing upon our current best understanding of human cognition to transform our basic starting point. It has implications for anyone interested in comparative religion, early China, cultural studies, digital humanities, or science-humanities integration.

Japan's Orient

Japan's Orient PDF

Author: Stefan Tanaka

Publisher: Univ of California Press

Published: 1995-02-08

Total Pages: 324

ISBN-13: 9780520916685

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Stefan Tanaka examines how late nineteenth and early twentieth century Japanese historians created the equivalent of an "Orient" for their new nation state. He argues that the Japanese attempted to use a variety of pasts—Chinese, Indian, and proto-historic Japanese—to construct an identity that was both modern and Asian.