Orientalism and its Representation in Movies (original) (raw)

Orientalism within Europe: Introduction

This special issue discusses texts and cultural artefacts that defy the idea of Europe as a homogeneous and coherent construct, with a focus on north/south, East/West divisions. Starting from a series of case studies, the contributions address differences and divisions and attempt to answer questions such as: Where does Europe begin and who establishes these boundaries? Who is considered European and who is not? How is difference described, represented and imagined in zones that are positioned within Europe, often at its core? What metaphors or narrative strategies are used to describe the other within Europe? Do writers from minority cultures participate in orientalized representations of their own culture? If orientalism can be conceptualized as the opposite of civilization, is it necessarily connected to notions of backwardness? If so, how does this play out in a European context? The range of the case studies considered in this issue is broad: chronologically, the essays span the nineteenth century to the present, and geographically they go from Russia to France, from Croatia and Hungary to Catalonia and the Basque countries. Overall, the essays take a transnational approach that considers ethnic, cultural and linguistic differences and notions of belonging within and beyond political units. A common ground is provided by recurrent critical concepts that offer a useful theoretical framework for discussion, such as Roberto Dainotto's argument that Europe constructs itself not only in opposition to the non-Western, but also to its internal other, and Milica Bakić-Hayden's notion of 'nesting orientalism': that is, the idea that countries who have been orientalized can also appropriate this discourse. This special issue originates in a panel held at the 2015 American Comparative Literature Association annual convention in Seattle, which was dedicated to literature and its audiences.

"The West": A Conceptual Exploration

This article explores the transformation of the directional concept "the west" into the socio-political concept "the West". From the early 19th century onward, the concept of the West became temporalized and politicized. It became a concept of the future ("Zukunftsbegriff"), acquired a polemical thrust through the polarized opposition to antonyms such as "Russia", "the East", and "the Orient", and was deployed as a tool for forging national identities. The gestation of "the West" went hand-in-hand with the gradual substitution of an east-west divide for the north-south divide that had dominated European mental maps for centuries.

Western Orientalism Targeting Eastern Europe: An Emerging Research Programme

Central European Journal of International and Security Studies, 2023

This article discusses pre-existing studies of Euro-Orientalism (Orientalism directed at Eastern Europe), and advocates for further study of the inequal relationship between Europe's West and East. In this sense, this article should help to overview and advance the study this phenomenon. A better understanding of Euro-Orientalism is necessary both in order to counter epistemic injustice, and in order to promote realistic policy recommendations for the region. In this latter connection, the article argues that the West's inability to take proper account of Eastern European historical experiences contributed to its failure to prepare for Russia's all-out invasion of Ukraine in early 2022.

Defining the west

This is the first in a series of papers attempting to define the ideological concept of the so-called "West". It examines the historical roots of postmodern humanism, the emergence of a socio-cultural "ressentiment" within the "Western world", and the consequences of such intra-conflictual symptoms.

The West in the Modern World

Focusing chiefly on the period from the 18th Century to the present, this course analyzes the most significant political, social, intellectual and economic trends that have shaped contemporary societies. HH216 examines the global impact of European and American cultures over the past three centuries and explores the most important reactions to modernity in both Western and non-Western societies. In doing so, the course situates the West in a global context and prepares students to think critically and comparatively about a changing world.