Page 93 - Encyclopedia Of World History Vol IV

1394 berkshire encyclopedia of world history

He who requires much from himself and little from others, will keephimself
from being the object of resentment. • Confucius (551–479 bce)

contrast, presented a better picture.A different perception only investigation of how Orientalist and Occidentalist
of the East resulted from a different interest in it, whether traditions were invented, but in particular against what
political, economic, military, scientific, or cultural. Said and whom. To the same degree that Western attitudes
suggested that the geographical proximity of Europe toward the East were formed by the colonial relationship
and the Middle East had been of great relevance for that existed between ruler and ruled, the converse was also
mutual cultural stimulation. He emphasized the impact true: A new Occidentalism was constructed in order to
of British and French writers but failed to mention Ger- draw a line between the West and the rest, to challenge this
man and East European scholarship. distinction and to investigate divisions within societies.
It is striking that Said’s impact on gender and literary However, Occidentalism should not be mistaken for
studies, on discourse analysis and postcolonial critics, Occidental critique of Orientalism as an academic disci-
and on social studies and history has been predomi- pline. Here, as has been pointed out, two perspectives,
nantly in the English-speaking world while in Germany, the religious and the Marxist, are of particular interest,
for example, with its short colonial experience, Said’s especially in the Arabic world. The Palestinian scholar
Orientalist thesis has had a relatively lukewarm recep- Abdel-Latif Tibawi is of the opinion that until quite
tion. The impulses feeding Orientalism, however, come recently most Western academics dealing with problems
from a wide spectrum of intellectual sources. For obvious of the Middle East were neither adequately trained in lan-
reasons, the period from the beginning of the direct guages and social sciences, nor sympathetic to Islamic
European colonial presence and the establishment of matters. Of even greater weight was the accusation that
colonial rule in the second half of the nineteenth century the scholarship of Orientalists was far from objective on
to the age of decolonization and political independence religious questions. Indeed, it was suggested that it had
was of central importance for the development of Ori- helped to develop religious hatred between Christianity,
ental scholarship. Islam, and Judaism.The Marxist argument also built on
Said believed that the Orientalist discourse experi- a picture of cultural confrontation, holding that Orien-
enced its first heyday in 1798, with Napoleon’s invasion talism should have been overcome when former colonies
of Egypt. The scholar and politician C.-F. Chasseboeuf, asserted their political independence. It continued to exist,
Comte de Volney (1757–1820), who traveled in Egypt however, in the minds of those believing in the alleged
and Syria and became a prominent critic of the French passivity of “Orientals.” The Marxist perspective gave
campaign, nonetheless advocated forcibly changing the more attention than the religious perspective did to socio-
local government from religiously dominated despotism logical and political concerns. Apart from recognizing
to republicanism.As Volney was also involved in the pres- the opportunity to marginalize Eurocentric worldviews,
ervation of historical monuments, his attitude could be those taking this anti-imperialist perspective saw it as
called an early version of mission civilisatrice—the civi- advantageous for promoting academic cooperation be-
lizing mission—that manifested itself institutionally in tween the peoples of Asia,Africa, and South America.The
the establishment of the French Institut d’Egypte in Cairo. Marxist perspective, in other words, is problem oriented
The civilizing mission was an excuse for European cultural and takes a comparative perspective on Third World coun-
penetration of Oriental societies, legitimated by a belief tries, as opposed to being predominantly dichotomized
in the supposedly passive character of Oriental peoples. and discursive, as is Said’s critique of existing Orientalism.
On the other hand, even in the earliest days there was
an “Occidentalist” critique that shaped the understanding Orientalism, Said,
of how the West had projected its images of the “other” and His Critics
and of how the East could reply by investigating Western Edward Said’s argument in Orientalism is frequently crit-
cultural identity. Essentially this dialectic required not icized for lacking a sense of history. It is also considered