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Orientalism. Back to Basics. Culture Context Positionality Ethnocentricity Other. “Unbiased” “apolitical” “objective” academics and scientists in the Colonial context: study ‘the native’ Ethnic superiority as scientific fact Handmaidens of colonialism .
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Back to Basics • Culture • Context • Positionality • Ethnocentricity • Other
“Unbiased” “apolitical” “objective” academics and scientists in the Colonial context: study ‘the native’ Ethnic superiority as scientific fact Handmaidens of colonialism
The Colonial Civilizing Mission Brigadier General John Jacob in the early 1800s asserted: “We hold India, then, by being in reality, as in reputation, a superior race to the Asiatic;and if this natural superiority did not exist, we should not, and could not, retain the country for one week. IF, then, we are really a morally superior race, governed by higher motives and possessing higher attributes than the Asiatics, the more the natives of India are able to understand us, and the more we improve their capacity for so understanding, the firmer will become our power. Away, then with the assumption of equality; and let us accept our true position of a dominant race. So placed, let us establish our rule by setting them a high example, by making them feel the value of truth and honesty, and by raising their moral and intellectual powers.”
Macaulay’s Minute on Education 1835 We must at present do our best to form a class who may be interpreters between us and the millions whom we govern – a class of persons Indian in blood and colour, but English in tastes, in opinions, in morals and in intellect.
Some effects of Colonialism on Colonized Societies Reconfiguration of identities, privileging Religion as primary marker of public identity; colonial codification of religious law Categorization and codification of Religious traditions; creation of textually based normative definitions of what is “legitimately” and “authentically” Islamic and what is not; exclusion of many important strands within religious traditions. For instance, Sufismconsidered “low” and “adulterated” Islam, while certain Arabic texts, including the Quran and some arbitrarily chosen legal books, define what is normativeIslam
Some effects of Colonialism on Colonized Societies • European Christian missionary activity as well as Western criticisms of “inferior” non-western traditions, especially Islam, resulted in a variety of reactions from the colonized – defenses, apologies, counter-attacks • Movements spring up in response to the material, moral and intellectual threat of Western domination; amongst Muslims in particular the desire is to prove to both themselves and the West that Islam can be an effective modern force, a challenge to European style modernity • Territorial nationalism; Muslims (and everyone else in Africa & Asia) in pre-colonial times lived in empires and kingdoms with shifting and porous boundaries; territorial nationalism was imported from Europe (with intense criticism) and did not fit easily with older identity configurations such as a universal Muslim Umma
Edward Said, 1935-2003 Published 1978
To consider while watching the video: • While the focus is largely on Arabs, think about how the content of the video can be translated to Pakistan • To what degree have you, as people of the Orient, adopted these views about yourself and Others?
Debrief Do you agree that a concept like Orientalism exists? Does it apply to society nowadays? How? Is it constrained to popculture/entertainment or does it influence political, social, and economic decisions as well?
Identity Identity as a codified category, always defined by its categorical opposite. What is the Process of Codification? • Legal provisions • Text and Literature • Publicity • Rituals and Traditions • Stereotyping • Can you name more ways?
Social Norms • Norm: “implicit (or hidden) standard of normalization” –Butler, Judith. Undoing Gender • Norm is not a rule; Norm is not a law • Norms AUTHORIZE and LEGITIMIZE • Norms evolve continuously: standards of normal also change. Who’s added, Who’s taken out? • Are Norms necessary?
Is prejudice unavoidable when discussing the “Other”? “How does one represent other cultures? What is another culture? Is the notion of a distinct culture (or race, or religion, or civilization) a useful one, or does it always get involved either in self-congratulation (when one discusses one's own) or hostility and aggression (when one discusses the 'other')?” (Said, 325)
Subaltern • Subaltern is that identity that has no possibility at social mobility • No possibility to speak • No possibility to be heard • Intransability of the Subaltern’s structuralposition
PhotographbyFazalSheikh.AjohAchot and AcholManyen, Sudaneserefugeecamp. Lokichoggio, Kenya, 1992.
Representation • Who is represented as the Subject? • Who is representable as the Subject? • Who is chosen to represent the Subaltern? • How is the Subject represented?
How is Speaking Subject being Produced? Brown woman oppressed as structural necessity Saving brown woman is also a structuralnecessity
Woman as a Subject • Woman remains an unthinkablefigure that needs saving, protection, an assigned identity, a set of limits, rules. • Where do the rules/norms/ideas of identity come from? • How are the rules, norms, identities POLICED?
Subaltern Identity • Accepts wretchedness as normality • Millennial cognitive damage done to subaltern • Valid institutional background can help subaltern speak
Agency • Agency is an individual’s CAPABILITY or POWER to affect a desired change. • Agency is NOT the same as Rights, Freedoms, Privileges, Advantages, Abilities. • Agency is relative to time, place, socio-economic context. • Agency is increasingly perceived as a key goal of development.
Final thoughts Are we guilty of an “Occidentalism” – a certain way in which we view the “West”? Is our perception positive or negative? How do you, as people of the Orient, want to be represented?
