The Arab world and the Occident : toward the construction of an Occidentalist discourse

Other Title(s)

العالم العربي و الغرب : نحو بناء خطاب الاستغراب

Author

Salihi, Zahya Ismail

Source

Journal of College of Shariaa and Islamic Studies

Issue

Vol. 39, Issue 2 (s) (31 Oct. 2021), pp.205-222, 18 p.

Publisher

Qatar University College of Shariaa and Islamic Studies (Previously) / Qatar University Qatar University Press (Currently)

Publication Date

2021-10-31

Country of Publication

Qatar

No. of Pages

18

Main Subjects

Islamic Studies

Abstract EN

Purpose: This article aims to engage in a meaningful discussion of Occidentalism as a discourse that draws its roots from Orientalism.

It scrutinizes the limitations of Occidentalism in investigating the East-West encounter from the perspective of Orientals (Arab intellectuals) and the multifarious ways the latter relate to and imagines the Occident.

It will cast a critical eye on the multiple and diverse constructions of Occidentalism as a discourse, arguing that unlike Orientalism, which homogenizes the Orient, Occidentalism does not Occidentalize/homog- enize the Occident.

Methodology: We take as a starting point Edward Said’s definition of Orientalism as a style of thought based upon an ontological and epistemological distinction made between ‘the Orient’ and ‘the Occident’, and we ex- plore the limitations and the possibilities of Occidentalism as a method to construe the colonial mechanisms of misrepresentation of the Other as everything that is different from the Self.

This article compares and contrasts a plethora of existing definitions of Occidentalism as formulated by scholars from both the Arab world and the Occident.

Findings: This paper concludes that the Oriental’s encounter with the Occident cannot, and should not, be pro- jected as a reverse relationship, or, as some claim, as an ‘Orientalism in reverse’, but rather as a diverse set of relationships of Orientals who have experienced the Occident in a variety of manners.

Furthermore, while Orientalism derives from a particular closeness experienced between the Occident and its Orient, oftentimes through real or imagined encounters, Occidentalism is also the outcome of a long cultural relationship between the Orient and its Occident.

What differs between the Orient and Occident, however, is the position of power and hegemony, which charac- terizes the Occident’s encounter with the Orient.

Originality: This article takes an all-inclusive view to discuss the term Occidentalism from the perspectives of both the Orient and the Occident.

It teases out the limitations of this term and challenges Orientalist methods of misrepresentation, which continue to blemish the Arab world and its discourse of Occidentalism as a discourse of hatred of the Occident.

Furthermore, through the discussion of Alloula’s Oriental Harem, it offers insight into the suggested Occidentalism method, which emphasizes the disfigurations of the Orient while tactfully writing back to the Occident.

American Psychological Association (APA)

Salihi, Zahya Ismail. 2021. The Arab world and the Occident : toward the construction of an Occidentalist discourse. Journal of College of Shariaa and Islamic Studies،Vol. 39, no. 2 (s), pp.205-222.
https://search.emarefa.net/detail/BIM-1341525

Modern Language Association (MLA)

Salihi, Zahya Ismail. The Arab world and the Occident : toward the construction of an Occidentalist discourse. Journal of College of Shariaa and Islamic Studies Vol. 39, no. 2 (Special issue) (Oct. 2021), pp.205-222.
https://search.emarefa.net/detail/BIM-1341525

American Medical Association (AMA)

Salihi, Zahya Ismail. The Arab world and the Occident : toward the construction of an Occidentalist discourse. Journal of College of Shariaa and Islamic Studies. 2021. Vol. 39, no. 2 (s), pp.205-222.
https://search.emarefa.net/detail/BIM-1341525

Data Type

Journal Articles

Language

English

Notes

Includes bibliographical references : p. 222

Record ID

BIM-1341525