The History and Politics of Middle East Studies: Producing Expert Knowledge

Edward Said coined the term "Orientalism" to describe Western fear and fascination with the societies of the Middle East and Asia, or the "Orient." For centuries, travelers, traders, scholars, and diplomats regarded the Orient as a place of mysticism, backwardness, licentiousness, and repression. As they did so, they constructed an idea of "the West" as its opposite: secular, rational, liberal etc. Orientalists' power to represent Middle Eastern and Asian societies for audiences back home translated into the power to colonize. European scholars played important roles in colonial projects. In this class, we explore the history of Western depictions of the Orient particularly the Middle East, South Asia, and Islam. We examine the ways that Orientalists' production of knowledge about these societies enabled European colonialism. We also consider to what extent the study of the Middle East and Asia in the US today is any different and, if so, how?
Course Attributes: AS HUM; AS LCD; AS SC; EN H

The History and Politics of Middle East Studies: Producing Expert Knowledge

JEWISH, ISLAMIC AND MIDDLE EAST STUDIES 382

Section 01