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The notion of Orientalism came under fire when Edward Said
(1935-2003) published his famous criticism entitled Orientalism:
Western Conceptions of the Orient (Routledge and Kegan Paul,
London, 1978). Afterwards it was difficult to mention Orientalism
without bearing in mind Said's views on that subject. So
changes occurred. For instance, the famous Congress of Orientalists
which is convened every four years since 1873 changed its
name to become the International Congress for Asian and
North African Studies. The latest congress was held in Ankara
in September 2007.
If the notion of Orientalism exists and is much debated,
the similar notion of Occidentalism must appear as well.
Two academics, Ian Buruma and Margalit Avishai took up the
challenge and presented their views on the subjecthow non-Westerners
consider the West. In their short but quite dense and thought
provoking study of the topic, which is also full of examples
taken from several parts of the world, the two authors explain
how non-Westerners had both emulated the West and rejected
it at different times.Our
modern world is indeed global but globalization may be not
well received by some quarters, so a kind of new nationalism
may appear from time to time in different parts of the world.
Actually beyond such nationalism, as the authors point out,
we can see a new feeling of rejection and at times of hate
of the Western society and culture. Of course, one of the
main questions remains what is development and what is Westernization.
Many countries would like to pursue economic development
without following Westernization blindly. So, at times there
is no real difference between the two modes of development.
For instance, according to Ian Buruma and Avishai Margalit,
Japan under the Meiji period adopted a lot of Western development
and such attitude helped Japan to avoid being colonized
and to defeat Russia in 1905. Similar examples can bee found
in the history of Russia. At times, such a huge country
adopted Western views and practices and at times it rejected
the west altogether. For instance under the tsar Peter the
Great, Western development was fashionable and the new capital
of Saint Petersburg was built in 1703 under Western plans.
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