In this article, we present a new perspective on how to combine inquiry-based, problem-oriented learning with practices in the Humanities. Our particular interest is how the initial phase of finding “the problem” can be undertaken in a conjoint way with students, that is in the form of inquiry-based learning where there are no pre-defined questions set by the teacher. Inspired by C. Wright Mills , we argue that “the imagination” is key to opening up inquiries into problems, for students and researchers alike. Through an outline of what we call “the Humanities imagination” we develop a set of heuristics for stimulating a turn from topics to problems in the context of the Humanities. We show how combining inquiry-based learning with the Humanities suggests both new pedagogical practices, new models (the teacher as interlocutor), and a new balancing of the ecology of the Humanities emphasizing its particular imaginary over its disciplines.
Denne artikel vil følge Edward W. Saids begreb ”orientalisme” inden for et særligt områdestudium. Jødiske studier er ofte dybt politisk og etisk motiverede foruden at være etnisk motiverede i den forstand, at mange forskere er engagerede i jødisk kulturpolitik, ligesom Said var dybt engageret i palæstinensernes politiske sag. Mit spørgsmål vil således være: hvordan har jødiske studier, som områdestudium betragtet, modtaget orientalismebegrebet? Mine grundlæggende antagelser er: 1. Orientalismebegrebets familiaritet med kolonialisme og imperialisme er et problem for jødiske områdestudier, fordi common sense i feltet placerer studiet i en anden kontekst. 2. Problemet er ikke kun begrebsligt/fagligt, men også politisk, fordi jødiske områdestudier helt enkelt har en markant pro-zionistisk profil. Denne politisering er ikke kun ideologisk, men opleves af mange i feltet som eksistentiel/ontologisk pga. Holocaust, og derfor er en eller anden grad af zionisme doxa.
Artiklen viser, at der findes tre skabeloner for orientalisme-receptionen i jødiske studier, som jeg kalder 1. Den kampusradikale, 2. Den postkoloniale og 3. Den historiske. Der argumenteres for, at Saids begreb orientalisme har medvirket til at opløse kultur- og socialanalytiske dikotomier i jødiske studier og dermed har ydet et væsentligt bidrag til området.
ENGELSK ABSTRACT:
Jakob Egholm Feldt: Orientalism and Israel. Three templates for Orientalism in Jewish Studies
This article analyses Edward Said’s concept of Orientalism in Jewish Studies. Jewish Studies are often highly politically, ethically and ethnically motivated, because many scholars are engaged in Jewish cultural politics just as Said was engaged in the Palestinian national cause. My question in this article is: How has the concept of Orientalism been received in Jewish Studies? My assump-tions are: 1. The familiarity between orientalism, colonialism and imperialism poses a problem for Jewish Studies, because common sense in the field places it in another context. 2. The problem is not only conceptual but also political, in as much as Jewish Studies have a significant Zionist profile. This politicization is not only ideological but also experienced as existential/ontological because of the Holocaust. Thus, a degree of Zionism is doxa in the field.
The article shows that there are three models for using the concept of orientalism in Jewish Studies. I call them: the campus radical, the post-colonial, and the historical. I argue that Said’s concept of orientalism has contributed to dissolving analytical dichotomies in Jewish cultural studies and thus made a significant contribution to the field.
Key words: Said, Israel, Zionism.
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