Hermeneutics versus History

Abstract

Much of the personal investment in this study derives from my awareness of being an “Oriental” as a child growing up in two British colonies. All of my education, in these colonies (Palestine and Egypt) and in the United States, has been Western, and yet that deep early awareness has persisted. In many ways my study of Orientalism has been an attempt to inventory the traces upon me, the Oriental subject, of the culture whose domination has been so powerful a factor in the life of all Orientals.

Media Post-coloniality and the Ethereal Persian ‘Empress’: How Hollywood Weaponized the Nostalgia of Exile

“…Reimagined imperialist crossings with "barbaric "inhabitants of the East-such as that found in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (Spielberg, 1984), or the artificial Bactrian dance in Alexander (Stone, 2004) are a few to name. As David Kopf (1980) notes in Hermeneutics versus History, "…a persisting and pervasive inability to see Asian civilizations without racial bias and cultural distortion is as much a result of the grandiose paradigms created by Western scholars and thinkers as of Western images of "Asiaticks" found in newspapers and films" (Kopf, 1980, p. 498). Albeit, a critical review of current Hollywood illustrations of the Orient may fall within media criticism, diverging from the umbrella analysis of post-colonial theory and nostalgia that is the "historical narrative" of Pahlavi nobility (Steele, 2021, p. 192).…”

The Challenge of Orientalism

“…For example, Irwin raises the methodological complaint that the Arabist Massignon "is a) blamed for the eccentricity of his interests and b) described as a system for producing certain types of discursive statement" (p. 107). Kopf (1980) asserts the importance of distinguishing between two types of colonialists in India: 'orientalists', sympathetic to Indian culture and 'anglicists' impatient to reform it (p. 499ff). Lewis (1982) points to the popularity of his own books in the Arab world and Kiernan (1979) notes a comment at the British Association of Anthropologists that "many Indian eyes were opened for the first time by British scholarship, whatever its imperfections, to things hitherto unguessed at in their own country and its past" (p. 345).…”

“…They are sometimes raised in a spirit of questioning the validity of Said's project (Butterworth, 1980;Duncanson, 1980;Irwin, 1981;Lewis, 1982). At other times they appear in the context of a misunderstanding or rejection of Said's method, in particular his identification of a discourse (Jalal al-'Azm, 1981 ; Kerr, 1980;Kopf, 1980 ;Musallam, 1979; for contrast, Asad, 1980;Clifford, 1980;Gran, 1980). Yet others much more sympathetic t o Said's enterprise take up his methodological challenge, although in a way that lacks political/historical specificity (Clifford, 1980;Kapp, 1980;Minear, 1980).…”

Όψεις Ινδικής Φιλοσοφίας Στην Ευρωπαϊκή: Ένας Διάλογος Ιδεών

“…Από πολλούς αναλυτές υποστηρίζεται ότι η Δύση διέδωσε συστηματικά την ιδέα περί ανωτερότητας της Δύσης -όσον αφορά την ανάπτυξή της, τον ορθολογισμό και την ευελιξία της σε σχέση με άλλες κοινωνίες. 39 Προβλήθηκε μια φαντασιακή εικόνα για την Ανατολή, νομιμοποιήθηκε η αποικιακή και πολιτική καταπίεση, καθώς και η πνευματική ανωτερότητα της Δύσης. Στο άλλο άκρο βρέθηκε ο ρομαντισμός που στράφηκε στην «αθωότητα» της Ινδίας, σε μία εποχή ταχύτατης τεχνολογικής εξέλιξης και βιομηχανοποίησης, για να εξασφαλίσει διαχρονικότητα και αντίθεση σε αυτές τις ραγδαίες αλλαγές.…”