At a crucial moment in the history of relations of East and West, Orient and Occident, Christianity and Islam, Orientalism provides a timely account of the subject and the debate.
In the 1960s and 1970s a powerful assault was launched on 'orientalism', led by Edward Said. The debate ranged far beyond the traditional limits of 'dry-as-dust' orientalism, involving questions concerning the nature of identity, the nature of imperialism, Islamophobia, myth, Arabism, racialism, intercultural relations and feminism.
Charting the history of the vigorous debate about the nature of orientalism, this timely account revisits the arguments and surveys the case studies inspired by that debate.
Acknowledgements
Map
PART ONE: BACKGROUND
1. Introduction - Orientalism in Crisis
PART TWO: ANALYSIS
2. The Rise of Orientalism
3. The Orientalis-Anglicist Controversy
4. Orientalism in the Arts
5. The Assault on Orientalism
6. Responses to the Assault on Orientalism
7. Case Studies
8. Exit from Orientalism - Orientalism Reconsidered
PART THREE: ASSESSMENT
9. Questions of Fact, Definition and Significance
Chronology
Who's Who
Guide to Further Reading
Bibliography
Index
Biography
Alexander Lyon Macfie has written widely on the modern history of the Near and Middle East. His books include The Eastern Question (1996), The End of the Ottoman Empire (1998) and Orientalism: A Reader (2000).
