610. Ibn Haldun University. Istanbul. (original) (raw)

This course rests on triple premises. First, Orientalism is not a matter simply of the past but equally of the present (ergo, the future). Second, as power/knowledge matrix, it is more than literary or textual because it informs society, culture, (inter)national relations, history, economy, technology, sport, media; indeed, it is integral to life entwined with death under modernity. Third, an ethical loyalty to scholarship entails critiquing Orientalism as a discourse of unfreedom and offering alternatives to it. Based on these premises, this interdisciplinary/pre-disciplinary course is organized into 3 parts. With a focus on Edward Said’s (1978) Orientalism, including Abdel-Malek’s (1963) and Abdul Latif Tibawi’s (1964) texts preceding Said, part 1 discusses what Orientalism is (not). Part 2 maps operation of Orientalism in national disciplines and many zones of life across continents. Part three dwells on critique of Orientalism and Said through practices, inter alia, of Israeli Orientalism, Hindu Orientalism and more. This section also examines if and to what degree calls to decolonize knowledge depart from or extend, inadvertently or otherwise, Orientalism. Utilizing multiple sources – text, ethnographies, films, novels, podcasts – this course enquires into (un)making of knowledge rather than take it as natural/neutral. During its journey, the course equips participants with conceptual and methodological tools to assess formation, production and dissemination of knowledge/power as well as acquire the capacity and skills to think of alternatives to Orientalism.