Al-Azmeh (1981) - The Articulation of Orientalism

Pluto Journals
The Articulation of Orientalism

Author(s): Aziz Al-Azmeh
Source: Arab Studies Quarterly, Vol. 3, No. 4 (Fall 1981), pp. 384-402
Published by: Pluto Journals
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/41857583
Accessed: 18-10-2015 03:25 UTC
Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at http://www.jstor.org/page/
info/about/policies/terms.jsp
JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content
in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship.
For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.
Pluto Journals is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Arab Studies Quarterly.
http://www.jstor.org
This content downloaded from 155.33.16.124 on Sun, 18 Oct 2015 03:25:06 UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
The Articulation of Orientalism
Aziz Al-Azmeh
The Arabsattainas perfect inwriting

a facility as theEuropeans
andreading
themselves.
Volney
affects
feminine
(In theSemiticmythofthefall)a seriesofpre-eminently was
consideredthe originof evil.Whatdistinguishesthe Aryannotionis the
Promethean
sublimeviewofactivesinas thecharacteristically virtue.
Nietzsche
Two statementswhich,butforreference to thingsOriental,have nothing

in common. Two statementswith referenceto the Orient, one in its
specificallyArab and another in its more generallySemitic mode, but
whichnevertheless differutterly in denotativeimport.Yet both,as we shall
see, are constitutedby elements fromthe same provinceof realityformed
into termsof the same semanticuniverse.We need only look closelyat
Volney's statementto restitute thesignificance it loses in thefaciletriviality
which makes it appear altogetherabsurd. And we must likewisesubject
Nietzsche'sstatementto a semanticexaminationin orderto recoverthelevel
of significancewhere it becomes, in a veryspecificsense, a cognate of
Volney's.1
What Volney finds particularlyarrestingis not the Arabs' facility
in writingper se. This in itselfis very unremarkable.What Volney's
statementconceals is an enunciationto the effectthattherelationbetween
Arabs and the skills of literacyis so fullylacking in self-evidenceas to
requirespecial mention.It is fortheoppositereasonthatone can safelystate
that one could not possiblyenvisagea parallelstatementconcerning,say,
Frenchmenand Greeks. It is thisutterlack of self-evidence, and hencethis
Aziz Al-Azmeh teachesphilosophyat KuwaitUniversityandis theauthorofIbn

Khaldunin ModernScholarship:A Studyin Orientalism. This is an abridged
forreasonsof space
versionof a longerstudy.Portionsof thisarticleeliminated
appearin an Arabicversionof thearticlepublishedin Al Mustaqbalal-Arabi,
October1981.
1. Volney,1787,vol. 2, p. 448; Nietzsche,1966,p. 9.
384 ASQ Volume 3 Number 4
Orientalism 385
opennessto a hiddenvastnessof significance, thattranslatesthestatement

in question fromthe realm of sheer excrescenceto that of determinate
relevance.And it is thus that the pedestrianismof Volney's statementis
suppressedwiththe recoveryof enunciationshiddenby thispedestrianism
and the implicitline of argumentation that runs parallel to them.Volney
foundhis observationremarkablebecause of an implicitline of argumen-
tation.Whereasa native relationdoes exist betweenEuropeans and the
skillsofliteracy,theconnectionbetweenliteracyand thingsArabic is byno
meansso directand natural,and is thustheoccasion forclearreflection and
explicitnote.That withrespectto literacy theArabs fareas theEuropeansis
noteworthypreciselybecause the formerare so unlike the latter that
instancesof concordancemustperforcebe recorded.Withoutthisabsolute
difference betweenArabs and Europeans Volney'scomparativestatement
on the perfection of theirrespectiveliteracywould have been absurd forits
own author.
The Arabs attain one facilitywhich fascinated Volney despite the
wretchednessof their culture,which makes their literacyall the more
remarkable.In orderto be comparableto Europeans and thus be literate,
the Arabs mustbe denied one elementthatshould properlybelongto their
nature,and thisdenial is thecriterionofsignificance ofthetriteobservation
thatArabscan read and writewithperfectfacility.The disnaturationofthe
Arabs withrespectto literacyis the preconditionof affirming the positive
relationthatbindsthemto literacy.By beingdisnatured,theyare robbedof
theirpositivequalitiesand endowed withthe contrastsof those qualities.
Hence literacyis apprehendedas a betrayalof specificity. Consequently,it
could not be expressedin termsof itself:the enunciationconcerningits
occurrencehad to take the formof a contrastivestatement.Its lack of self-
evidenceis in factan index of a lack of wholesomeintegrality. The oddity,
thedisnature,is of necessityextrinsicto thereal substanceofthingsArabic.
Hence it is only comprehensible - indeed, it can only be articulated - in
termsof a strictcomparisonwiththingsEuropean.
The Orientin Volney,specifiedbytheArabs,is therefore a negativeform
of the Occident as specifiedby "the Europeans themselves."Nietzsche's
negativeis, by comparison,boundless. Nietzsche paid no heed to the
misinterpretations of posterityand was contentwithnothingless than the
Semites and Aryans which are to representabsolute contrast.In the
statementquoted, the scourge of Christianityis making a rhetorical
digressionin thecontextof unravelling thesublimeelementsoftheHellenic
spirit,to which the Semitic (Biblical, "Judaeo-Christian")is explicitly
of
counterposedbyway explication,illustration, and contrastivedetermina-
tion.2In thesametext,NietzschetellshisreaderthattheSemiticmythofthe
oftheSemiticJewsto theEastis difficult

2. The relation and ambiguous,
to say
386 Arab Studies Quarterly
fall is laden withthe "pre-eminently feminineaffects"of "curiosity,men-

dacious deception,susceptibility to seduction,lust."Not so the Aryan,one
must presume: determinedlyimpregnatorialrather than susceptibleto
seduction, manifestlyvirtuousratherthan stealthilyperfidious,resolute
ratherthan curious,and totallyundefiled,the Aryanmythof Prometheus
is a constantand total affirmation. Yet that the circlesof connotationin
whichthe terms"Christianity"and "femininity" are embeddedare made to
intersectis a specificallyNietzscheanachievement.But it is an achievement
which certainlyevinces more than yet anotherstatementof mysogyny. In
orderforChristianity, thereligionofsoberand manlyPrussians,to be made
effeminate, it had to be subjectedto a lexicalexpatriationwhichaffecteda
total alterationin its semanticproperties:it had to be metamorphosedinto
Semitism.
A similarprocesshad to take place in orderforSemitismand femininity to
standforone another.The associationof Semitesand femalescould onlybfe
establishedthroughthe contrastof Semitesand Aryans.Semitismdoes not
only stand for a determinatesense of the mythof the fall,but plays a far
more comprehensivefunctionof contrasting the positivityof Greecewitha
negativity. Semitism is the carrier of a general negativityin contrastto
Aryanism, the carrierof and
positivity, negativity, forvirtuallyall cultures,
not least bourgeois-capitalistsociety and Nietzsche, certainlydid not
exclude femininity as a representativetype. Hellenes and Christiansare
therefore contrastedindirectly: theircontrastis simulatedby terms,Semitic
and Aryan,whichcan readilybear contrastregardlessof thecontentofthis
contrast and which can thus representnegativityand positivity.The
enunciationon Greek sublimityis articulatedinto a statementof determi-
nate positivityof the Prometheanmythof sin by means of a contrastive
rhetoricwhose articulusis the contrastbetweenEast and West.
Both Nietzsche'sand Volney'sstatementsthereforestemfrom,and are
onlymade possibleby,a contrastive sensethatbindstheconnotativeimport
of Orient and Occident. They are realized withina constructof realityin
whichthingsEasternand Westernare definedbytheirmutualcontrariety, a
realmof realitystructuredby a polar oppositionof Orientand Occident(in
variousavatars: Arab, Semitic,Aryan,European) in whichthelattercarries
normativeascendancyand consequentlystands in a paradigmaticposition
withrespectto the former.The former,therefore, is conceivedas themirror
theleast,and is farmorecomplexthanthatof Arabs,Islam,or theIndians,for

instance.Theirconception of thingsmadeEasternbybeing
is nottheconception
Semitic,fortheyformed, and henceoftheWest,
formany,a partofChristianity,
albeit in a remotewaywardmanner,and, in the past century, have takenon
decidedlymodernEuropeanfeatureswithZionism.Indeed,one of the earliest
Zionists,Moses Hess, tookoffencefromBrunoBauer'scontention thattheJews
wereOrientals(Carlebach1978,p. 140).
Orientalism 387
image of the paradigmaticOccident,and thus a repositoryof negativity,

bothas abstractnegativity and as particularnegativeswithrespectto things
Occidental(literacy,sublimity,etc.).
It is in theplayofnegativityand antonymy thattheisotopyofNietzsche's
and Volney'sstatementsis displayed.For, in both cases, we witnessthe
utilizationof what was designatedas topos in that great inventoryof the
rules of all discourse,antique and medievalrhetoric.We witnessin both
cases thereadinesswithwhichthedyadictopos Orient/ Occidentrealizesan
enunciationand formsit into a meaningful statement.3This dyadic topos,
we have seen, providessemanticforceto the enunciationsrealized. This
toposrealizestheenunciationsbyarticulating theirelementsintoconceptual
units.The normative primacy of Prometheus was conceptualizedin termsof
thistopos. And thissame topos realizedtheliteraryfacilityoftheArabs. In
both cases, it was the dyadic relationof the elementsof this topos that
engenderedthe conceptual means of passage between enunciationand
statement. For had thisdyad notbeencapable ofgeneratingdiscursiveunits
whichorganizeportionsof the empiricalmanifoldinto thematicunits,it
would have been incapable of servingas a topos. Afterall, a topos only
becomesdiscursively ifitactsas a node ofconnotativelinesofforce
effective
whichdrawsintoitselfmultifarious thematicunitsand appropriatesthem.
The meansbywhicha topos acquiresthisnodal qualityis a metaphoricsof
discourse in which a semasiologicaltransference of referentialelements
betweenone word and another occurs, and hence a transference of the
denotativereferenceof these words betweenone thematicportionof the
empiricalmanifoldand another.In thisway,a wordcould denotemorethan
one thing,and could transferits normativesense to other cognate or
contiguouswords,whichin theirturntake on thisquality.It is in thisway
thatthe materialof meaningtransferred from"West" to, say, "progress,"
makes "progress"Westernby endowing it with the positive normative
propertyin a contrastivecontext.And it is in the verysame way thatthe
Semitesbecomefeminine, and theArab, by a positiveand explicitcompari-
son with"the Europeans themselves"(and hence by stealth),acquires the
accoutrementsof civilization.
II
In termsof thediscreteelementsto whichtheyrefer,the statementsthat

we have been analyzingmeet on a common territorywhichgoes beyond
beenafloatin thesymbolic
toposhas constantly
3. Thiscontrastive and topical
oftheWestsincethetimeoftheGreeks,
repertory andwouldmerit a specialstudyin
capacity,and could wellformthe starting
thisspecialrhetorical pointforthe
mythologiesof Westerncultureadvocatedby C. Lvi-Strauss.
their abstract givenness.It also foundsthem as semanticand discursive

units and endows them with the realitythat is born of the act of con-
stitutingthem. This is the territory of Orientalism,whichtransforms the
senselessabstractionof thematicgivennessinto determinatethematicand
semantic coherence by givingthem contentand value in the contextof
Orientalistdiscourse.It is thisterritory whichconstitutes theconditionsof
possibilityof the statementsstudied,it beingthesine qua non forarticulat-
ing enunciationsabout thingsOriental into the formof statements.
The conceptualcontiguityof matters,such as thoseraisedbyVolneyand
Nietzsche,amid topical and empiricaldisparateness,underlinesthe main
thesespresentedin thisarticle.Orientalismis composed of statements that
utilize units of themeand discoursewhichcarryan Orientaldesignation,
and theveryuse of a thematicclass withan Orientalappurtenance(and this
articleis concernedonlywithIslam and theArabs)takeson,wherever itmay
be embedded as a topos, or wheneverit (as the Islamic Cityor as Volup-
tuousness)is treatedin itsown right,a negativenormativeassignation.4 This
normativepropertyinvariablyacquirestheformof a positivedescriptionof
theEast whichis directly derivedfromtheinversion ofsenseaffectingtermsby
which thingsOccidental are apprehended(amorphousIslamic City/Euro-
pean municipalcommunality, casuisticintellect/
philosophicalfreerational-
ism, etc.)- it is thus that realityin termsof the Orient/Occidentdyad is
defined.In it,it is theinversionofthesenseofthelatterwhichproducesunits
of discoursethatorganizetheempiricalmanifoldon behalfoftheformer. The
corollaryto thesepropositionsis that,thusgeneratedto populatetheOriental
4. E. Said (1978)has devoteda wholechapter to thescopeofOrientalism (pp.31

ff.),whichhe saw as theforms inwhichtheOrientis constituted andapprehended.
Andalthoughhisanalysispointstotheextension ofOrientalist discoursebeyondthe
discourseon theOrient,be thatdiscourse scholarly, (indeed,on
colonial,orliterary
p. 177Said doesstatethattheOrientis "lessa placethana topos"),thefactthatthe
Orientalisttoposconstitutes a folktopos, a culturalpatrimony withno necessary
attachment to literate
culture,is notexplicitly
analyzed.It is dueto thisembedded-
ness in the culturalrepertory of Europe,to its livingin theporesof European
scholarshipand culture, thatOrientalism couldbecome,as Said pointsout(p. 45),
theenormously systematicdisciplinebywhichEuropeansproduceand managethe
Orientpolitically,sociologically, and imaginatively
scientifically,
militarily, during
"thepost-Enlightenment period."On theIslamicOrientin medievalpolemic,one
has thechoicebetweenthedensedetailof Daniel(1966)and theshortperceptive
essayofSouthern(1962).The readershouldin all casesreadRodinson(1974).On
individualOrientalistsand Orientalistscholarshiptillthebeginning ofthepresent
century,oneshouldrefer to Fuck(1955).The ideological andpoliticalramifications
ofOrientalism havebeenamplyindicated byAbdel-Malek (1963)andSaid (1978),as
theyhavealso beenin somearticles assembled inthethreeissueswhichhaveso far
appearedof the Reviewof MiddleEasternStudies , and, in a different
vein,by
Tibawi(1979).
Orientalism 389
world,theunitsofOrientalist discourserepresent a worldrelatedto theWest

by absolute difference in whichthe entitiescalled Orientalhave a specificity
which immuresthem withina naturetotallyother than that of things
Western.
The statementsof Volney and Nietzschesubsisttogetherin the space
whereeverything Orientalis organized.It is as Orientalunitsthattheycan
be seen, apprehended,and discursivelyorganized.And it is this space of
fictionswhichperforms therigorousexerciseof whathas been describedas
the "optimumdiversity"whichdefineshuman societiesin relationto one
another.5Optimumdiversity trulyreignswithintheOrient/Occidentdyad:
relationsbetweenOrientand Occidenthave beenantagonisticeversincethe
latter became a reflexivecultural category,at firstepisodically in the
Carolignian"Renaissance,"and later concertedlyand systematically with
theCrusadesin Spain and in theLevant.And thisoptimumdiversity is very
rigorouslyexercisedin the veryfoundationof theOrientand preservesthe
historicalfoundationsof academicOrientalismas polemicfromthedays of
Johnof Damascus throughPeterthe Venerableand on to Raymond Lull,
Alexander Ross, and the later tenantsof teachingpositions in Oriental
facultiesthroughoutthe West. A polemic is not just a discourse on
deficienciesin general;it is the discourseof an essenceaddressingits own
privations,the discourse of a truth upon that which lacks its inner
determinations in termsof those verydeterminations.
It is thereforelittle wonder that Orientalismgenerates its units of
discourse,the veryfactsinto whichit segmentsthe empiricalmanifoldas
well as its concepts,by means of inverting the innersense of categoriesby
whichthingsWesternare apprehended.This generationby diversederiva-
tion accounts for the veryexistenceof thingsOriental,as, indeed, of the
Orientitself,and it is thiswhichformstheprimaryoperationof Orientalist
analytics:the operationwhichtransforms a culturalelementintoa distinct
topos , articulatesthis topos by transforming it into a distinctunit of
discourse,and controlsthisoperationthroughoutby referenceto theterms
of theWesternnormwhoseinversionofsensesuppliestheoperationwithits
substance,makingpossible the concretediscourseon the Orient.6
5. Lvi-Strauss1978,p. 327. In a replyto Abdel-Malek(1963),an eminent

Gabrieli(1965 p. 139),is pithily
Orientalist, awareofthismatterwithrespectto
Orientalism.He seesAbdel-Malek's advocacyof writingOrientalhistory froman
Orientalviewpoint fairplay,as "il est evidentI que! . . .
as a call forunjustified
l'Occidentne pourraitjamaisaccepter cetteexigencesansse renier lui-meme etson
autoconscience,sa raisonde vivre."
6. The constitutionofOriental thematicunitsbythedirectinversion ofsenseof
Western conceptions was elaborated in specific
contextsbyAl-Azmeh (1976)and
Laroui(1976),andis developed insomedetailwithrespect toIslamicthought byAl-
Azmeh( 1980passim ). Said( 1978p. 141)expresses
thesameconception inrelation to
We shall not take up the topoithatformtheOrientin itstopicalcapacity.

The generalformin whichtheyhavebeenapprehendedin Europeanliterate
culturehave been verywell describedin Edward Said's phenomenology of
Orientalism,7 where the units of Orientalist discourse were likened to a
harlequinade:"underlying all the differentunits of Orientalistdiscourse-
by whichI mean simplythe vocabularyemployedwheneverthe Orientis
spoken or writtenabout- is a set of representative figuresor tropes."8Our
purpose here is not a phenomenology(for this task has in the main been
achieved) but the fundamentals of an analytics of Orientalism - the gen-
eration and the formof unitswhichmake Orientalrealityand Orientalist
discourse possible, the identification of thingsOrientaland theirconcep-
tualization in the formof units of discoursewithvarious functions.The
analyticsof Orientalismis theset ofrulesbywhichtheOrientis conjured.It
describesthe operationsby meansofwhichOrientalistentitiesare manufac-
tured and the Orientalistworld organized,the means of passage between
Occidental and Oriental terms,and the means of connectionbetween
Oriental termsthemselvesand theirformationinto statements.
First it must be noted that the units ranged under the substanceand
principle"Orient"("substance"and "principle"are employedinthesenseof
the Greek arche or the medievalArabic asl),9 whichare the thematicunits
carryingthe normativepropertiesof the Orient,such as theIslamiccityor
Islamic law, relateto Orientand Occident in two distinctmanners.They
relate to the Orient by reproducingit: Islamic law has structureswhich
correspondto those of the Islamic city,and thisisomorphyextendsto all
other thingsthat are definedas Islamic and reproducethe structuresof
Islamism. In other words, each instance of Islamicaism is merelya
reconfirmation of thisIslamicism.The isomorphyof thingsIslamic merely
confirmseach of them in its Being-Islamic.The professionalOrientalist
thereforehas as histasktheembedmentwithintheIslamicrealofthatwhich
Orientalismdecreesas appertainingto it.Thus, ifhe engagesinthestudyof,
say, Islamic law, he would be performing two operations.He would first
describeitsstructurein termsofthatwhichreversesthesenseoflaw, suchas
casuistryand abstract rigidity(and hence unreality,and consequently,
propensityto corruption).He would then "explain" this by reducingits
detailed characteristicpropertieswhichcompose the semanticfieldof the
Semiticphilology, useofthisidea.I am
andTurner(1978)has madequiteextensive
indebtedto BryanTurnerforthekindmentionin his Preface.
7. Said 1978.
8. Ibid., p. 71.
9. A veryfecunddualityofsensereignedin thecontextofthisconception until
Kant,beforewhomthephysical and theconceptual ofthetermwere
acceptations
embroiled together, as has beenshownbytheanalysisofSchopenhauer (1974pp.
9 fi).
Orientalism 391
term"Islam." This mass of detail is organizedaccordingto the exigencies

of thesevereteleologyof Islamism,whichreduceseverything to unityunder
its name: the organizationis undertakenwithview to confirming appur-
tenanceto Islamism,to emphasizingitsinsertionin the ontologicalfieldof
Being-Islamic.10
In this way, the Orientalistrequires, for his act of adducing and
enumerating,what he calls "facts"accordingto the pedestrianpositivist
metaphysic of facticity.The idolatryofthispedestrianism is practicedunder
the name of "objectivity."This is well expressedin, say, the stricturesof
HamiltonGibb on thefarsuperiorintellectof Louis Massignon.The latter,
Gibb says, composed his worksin "as it were,two registers" - one at "the
ordinary level of objectivescholarship" and another,containingproperly
processed"data," i.e., scienceas distinctfromsheerknowledge,whichGibb
reducedto "objectivedata . . . absorbedand transformed by an individual
intuitionof spiritual dimensions."11For the Orientalist,therefore,the
particularin itsfacticity is objective,and any attemptto establisha relation
betweenthis particularand the contextof its particularityis reducedto
arbitrarypassion.
A work of synthesisis thereforeseen as the sheer summationof its
elements,and thefactoidalfetishism oftheOrientalistintegrateshisdetailed
statement offact with his conceptual structure.For thisleads to theconstant
systematic disassociation of particulars from discursive contextotherthan
the Orientalist,and thismonadismactivatesthe implicitclaim of Oriental-
ism and confirmsthe exclusiveappurtenanceof these particularsto the
Orientalistrealm.The disassociationof particularsfromcontextsofhistory
- sociological,cultural,etc. - is a necessaryconditionforconfirming their
Islamism.For such disassociationrendersthemdefenseless,and facilitates
divertingtheirconceptualorientationfromthat requiredby the real world
to that requiredby the fictionof the Orient.
That is whyOrientalismis (ideally) exhaustivelyenumerative.Said de-
scribedit,mutatismutandis , as "absolutelyanatomicaland enumerative;to
use its vocabularyis to engagein theparticularizing and dividingof things
Orientalinto manageable parts."12It is not, though,the utilitarianism of
manageability that is at work in Orientalisttaxology. The classificatory
placementof units under genericheadingsserves the grand tautologyof
Orientalismby relatingall that is Islamic to the syntagmaticclass of
10. Laroui(1976) has shownhowthedictation ofan entireculturebya central

idea in theworkof Grunebaum whereno concreteelement
resultsin a totality
predominates and wherethelayersoftheculture-society,state,morality,literary
expression, -
etc. are isomorphic.
completely
11. Quotedin Houran1980,p. 113.
12. Said 1978,p. 72.
Islamism and by confirmingIslam as the author of all thingsIslamic.

Orientalismis therefore a mode of apprehensionand ofperception,and not
one of knowledge.It identifiesthemataof an Islamic nature. Hence the
profusionof worksCroce describedas "sumptuousignorance":themultipli-
cation of detail with littlecoherencebeyondthe litanyof the Orient- a
litanyjoylesslyrecordedby Orientalphilologistsprofoundly ignorantofthe
sciences of language, by historiansprofoundlyignorantof historiography,
by studentsof literatureprofoundlyignorantof literature,and even by
anthropologistswithoutmuch interestin the science of anthropology.13
Needless to say, this is reproducedby the structureof studiesin Oriental
facultiesthroughouttheWesternworld,whereit is stillpossibleto obtaina
doctoral degree on the basis of editinga text- in effect,such a reading
exerciseand a test of basic libraryskillsis testimonyof the masteryover
thingsOriental.14For such is the objectiveskilltransmitted to studentsby
the primarytissue of Orientalism - university - by constituting
teachers its
physicalfoundationin theformofverbaland written instruction embedded
in academic institutionswhose paradigmaticsubstanceis providedby the
implicitcategoriesthat permeateall referenceto thingsOriental.
Yet thereis nothingprofligateabout the endlessmultiplicationof detail
which the Orientalistprofers.For with the lack of a conceptual agency
capable of setting limits to the necessary,and clearly identifyingthe
supererogatory and thesuperfluous, theprofusionofparticularstakeson an
entirelydifferent colorationin theguiseof positiveexplication.An enumer-
ative disciplinesuch as Orientalismcan onlybe maintainedby the multipli-
cation of numbers,and these constituteso manysubdivisionswithinthe
substance of the thematicclass. They repeatit, instantiateit in empirical
multiplicity, but neitheranalyticallyelaborate it nor elevate its sensuous
materialitybeyond this sensuous materiality.
13. Antoun1976,p. 169.Thecomments ofCahen,1953,are,withfewexceptions,

stillvalidtoday.On Orientalphilology today,see Said 1978passim, and on the
philology and translationsof a specific
Arabicauthor,see Al-Azmeh1980,ch.2.
14. The sole respitein a tiresome apologyforreactionary Orientalism (Lewis
1979,p. 373) is whentheauthorlikened toGermanic
Orientalists philologistswhose
studiesare limitedto theNiebelungenlied and"whoinsistthatsucha studyis not
onlya necessary butalsoa sufficient
preparationforworkonmodern Germany and,
on theotherhand,a groupofsocialscientists specializinginmodern Germany, who
have no knowledgeof Germanbeyondelementary hoteland restaurant require-
ments."Lewisinsiststhat,evenifthiswereto happen,theresultswouldbe rather
betterthan those of modernMiddle East studies.One of the most eminent
Orientalistsof thiscentury, armedwithknowledge of Arabic,derivedout of Ibn
Khaldun'stheoryof 'asabiya his own wide-ranging sociologicaltheorywhich
includedmaximsforthetreatment of domesticservants as wellas reflections
on
humanitas (Ritter1948).
Orientalism 393
The selectionof segmentsfromtheempiricalmanifoldto serveas facts,

thentheirassimilationto topoi, followedby theirdesignationas thematic
classes and unitsof discourse,is therefore fundamentally an act of nomen-
clature.It is an operationwherebytheseunitsare apportionedto a category
and act as membersof itslitterof denotata.Enumerativeexplicationbythe
adductionof discreteillustrations is reallyone provisionof externalindices
whichgesturetowarditsconclusion.The arrangement of unitsofdiscourse,
devoidof intrinsic relationbetweenelementsof contentor betweenthisand
statement, can thereforeonly be paratactic,in whichthe discreteunitsof
contentare orderedby sheertextualconsecution,so that an abecedarian
orderis just as acceptableas anyother.That is why,incidentally, one could
argue that the Encyclopediaof Islam and its cognatesare the quintessential
productsof Orientalism.Whateverconnectednarrationthereis is not,given
thediscreteness ofthedetail,a correlativeof theact ofcataloguing.It is not
the importof statements as muchas theresultof a superimposedorderof
consequence.15
This superimposedorderof consequenceis exclusivelyreductivewithin
the grand tautology of Orientalism - that which is not ceases to be
Orientalist.Orientalistdiscourse regardsthe nomenclatureof thematic
entities(theirdesignationas Islamic) as itspropertask.The namingofthese
unitsis undertakenin termsof a higherrealityto whichtheseunitsare said
to appertainand to whichtheyare assimilated,a thematicclass, ultimately
"the Orient,"to whichare apportionedand whichappropriatesthe visible
unitsfallingunderitsrubric.16 In thisprocess,wheredetailsare assimilated
to a generalizedthematicunitwhichmakesthemOrientalby callingthem
so,we do not witnessthe establishment of a necessary,logical connection
withthe highergenericentitywhichwe have designatedthematicclass. We
see tneappendageand attribution ofdetails(not attributes)to a substance.17
The thematicunitsappertainingto a thematicclass lead in themselvesan
indexaiand gesturalexistence,pointingbeyondtheirsingularity to another
to whichtheybelong.Theyconfirmthisproperty oftheirsbyactingas what
Barthes termed"informants,"which provide the empirical fillingsof a
topical class and provideit with the mantleof realityby virtueof being
discreteunits of contentwithoutcorrelativenarrativeeffects.
15. As forthissuperimposed orderofconsequence, onecouldsurmise thatitonly

becameimplicit aftertheendof,say,the1930s,whenitwas no longer
or incidental
scientifically to organize
respectable detailbyattributing
discrete itsessencetoracial
Hencetheincreased
characteristics. "positivism."
16. Un theimaginative geography see aid 19/,pp. M lt. and
ot Orientalism,
passim.
17. We mustagreewithSaid 1978,p. 72 thatOrientalism is a formof radical
realism.
Reduction to a thematicclass- say/'orthodoxy"or "the Islamic city"-

goes by the name of "influence."The search for influencesand the
establishmentof lineagesof fecundationis thesole structure ofconsequence
in Orientalistdiscourse.At the root of each lineageis an originwhich is
what is taken as a paradigmaticfact or the act establishinga thematic
class- theQur'an withrespectto pietyor modesty,forinstance- and at the
root of all origins is a common origin of originswhich establishesthe
integralityof everydetail and endows it withspecial (i.e., Islamic) signifi-
cance. This demiurgeis Islam. Each memberin this systemof nematic
originsexertsa teleologicalpull on thoseunitssubjectto its influencein its
capacity as, at once, origin and explanation. In this way, the temporal
sequence of unitswhichcarryforwardan influenceis one ofa multiplicatory
sequence which traces the linear inseminationof effectsand derivative
influencesfrom an origin, and which reconfirmsthe essence of each
influenceas the continuationand repetitionof that origin.A consequent
thereforeadds nothingto a precedent;neitherdoes it have a specificity
definable in terms apart from this precedentor to the precedent of
precedents,whichis Islam. Yet themonotonyofthistemporalelongationof
essenceis relaxedbythequantitative, and therefore essentially
inconsequent,
force of degeneration.18 Things Islamic have a historydescribed as the
degenerationfrom- or at besttheanchyloticsolidificationof- theirorigin.
The process of reductionto an originis a simpleoperation.In concrete
terms,it does not requiremore than the normalequipmentof Orientalist
scholarship, viz., fundamentallibraryskills and an efficientsystemof
notetaking.It consistsof fleecingthe manifestcontentof textsin question
and under investigationin search of parallels: parallel passages, parallel
explicitthoughts,parallelreferences, parallelterms.The establishment ofan
origin by such correspondence amounts to the Orientalistconceptionof
a
explanation, conception to which any notion ofadequacy inadequacyis
or
totally inappropriate. The amputation of statements fromdiscursiveand
historicalcontextsis standardpractice,althoughit is spottedas a faultin
polemical contexts.The irrelevanceof any notionof explanatoryadequacy
is a reflectionof the lack of any structuralcoherencein the Orientof the
Orientalistsbeyond that of repetition.This factis equally reflectedin the
epistemologyof Orientalism,with its conceptionof meaningas the mere
transcriptof the manifestcontentof statements, thatwhichaccountsforthe
atomisticand etymologicalconceptionof semanticsin Orientalistscholar-
ship,wheremeaningin a statementis thesumoftheoriginsand occasional-
ly nontechnicalsense of its vocabularyelements.Hence the ample number
18. Degenerationis a toposconstantly ArabicandIslamic,

bythings
interpellated
and couldmerita study.
Orientalism 395
of scandalous literalisttranslationsof Arabic(mainly)medievaltextsinto

European languages.19
The problematicof teleological origin articulatedby means of this
argumentumad textumsanctum applies not only to the relations of
particulartextsbut,as pointedout,extendsto thosethattie particulartexts,
contexts,and thematicclassesto a reality,a nature,a fundamentalprinciple,
an asl to whichtheyall appertain.No particularwhichfallsundertheIslam
is self-sufficientin the particularity formedby its own context.Its realityis
derived from the realityof its Islamism. This nature of natures, this
explicitlyself-defining (but, implicitly, definedby the reversalof the West)
reality,is the principle of invariance in Orientalismwhich assures the
solidityof its thematic material. Being the oppositeof the West,thisnature
is reallya disnature which has the propertiesof a nature,a medievalnature
wherethingsare naturalnot in relationto some otherness,but by virtueof
theirintrinsic properties; just as it is "in thenature"ofheavythingsto fall,it
is in the natureof Islamic thingsto have certainproperties.It is a nature
which,in time,transmitsits pristineproperties,its Islamism,by temporal
contiguity (influence)whichtransmits theIslamicdesignationfromparticu-
lar to particular.The particularslack substanceand, therefore, justification
and explanation, withoutreferenceto this nature; they lack narrative
propertiesexcept insofaras the narrativewhose discreteelementsthey
constituteis orientedtowardthe Orient,whichis the node of the order of
consequencesuperimposedupon theparatacticstaccatoof factualenumer-
ation.
This descriptionof Islam as principleand natureis thatwhichtransmutes
a strayparticularinto a factof the Islamicorder.Islam, thatphlogistonof
thesocial sciences,activatestorpidfactand transforms itinto Islamism,into
to
appurtenance principle. Such is Islam fora sophisticatedmodernscholar:
Islammustbe seenfromtheperspective of history

as an alwayschanging,
evolving,and developingresponseof successive generationsof Muslimsto
theirdeepestvisionofreality.
. . . Thelinkamongthisdiversity is
ofresponses
theircommonoriginintheprophetic experienceandtheircommonagent,the
Islamiccommunity.20
It is veryeasy forthe authorof thisquotation,C. Adams, to demonstrate

that by change he means change and thus refuteany suspicions of
ahistoricism.All thathas to be done to showthisis to presenta diachronic
enumerationof various"responses"to fulfilltherequirements of Orientalist
seeAl-Azmeh
19. On thewholequestionofinfluence, 1980,ch.3. On translations
fromArabic,see ibid.,pp. 49 ff.
20. Adams1976,p. 31. bmphasisadded.
scholarship. But, over and above these "responses"- and they are the
responses of a temporalstringof Muslimsto their"vision of reality" - the
originwhichtheyhave in the Islamic communityand in prophecyis that
whichaccounts fortheintegrity of Islam and foritshistoricalcontinuityas
Islam. Islam is therefore
theself-explanatory, and utterlysui
self-sufficient,
generis natureand realitywhose historicalvicissitudesare internallypro-
pelled by"thecommunity" in itssuccessivegenerations, respondingto "their
vision" underdifferent externalcircumstances.But thesecircumstances are
sheer accidentals in comparisonwiththe solidityof transhistoricity. For
these circumstancesalter nothingessentialwithinthe sense of Islam, and
changes undergone by Islam are changes for Muslims in response to
themselves.Theirs is the triumphof absolute specificity(and hence of
teleology),of changelessspecificity, inscribedin the behaviorof the homo
islamicus, a creaturefullyand whollyapart, endowed witha specificity
which,althoughreal, is detachedfromhistoryand valorizedas transhistori-
cal substance.21
WithoutIslam as an immutablenaturetherecan be no Orientalism.So
essentialis thisconceptionthateventhealmostomnitenently urbaneirenics
of Albert Hourani's Orientalismcannot do withoutit. Afterexplicitly
rejectingthe idea of an "essence" determiningall aspects of a culture,
Hourni refersapprovinglyto the workof CliffordGeertzand statesthat
. . . evenwhenwe can use theconceptof"Islam"to explainsomething in a

cultureof society,we mustuse it subtlyand in conjunction withother
principlesofexplanation
. . . thereis no suchthingas "Islamicsociety,"
there
aresocietiespartlymouldedbyIslam,butformed also bytheirpositioninthe
physicalworld,theirinherited languageandculture, theireconomic possibili-
tiesand theaccidentsof theirpoliticalhistory.22
Hourni takes explicit cognizance of sociological, ecological, and other

realitiesthatenterintothemakingof "concretehistory.""Islam," he states,
is not and cannot be an explanatoryprincipleby itself.Islam forHourni is
a singlefactoractivein societies"partlymouldedbyIslam." Butitsintrinsic
propertiesare not alteredby thisdefenestration of omnipresence;theyare
simplysubjectto a relativedevaluation.From beinga totalitarianprinciple,
Islam becomes a componentin a pluralismofdeterminants. It is also shifted
back firmlyonto the religioussphere- it is "a statementabout whatGod is
and how He acts in theworld,embodiedin a book whichMuslimsbelieveto
be theword of God, and articulatedin a systemoflaw and worshipbywhich
21. On homoislamicus
, homoarabicus , homosinicus, etc.,seeAbdel-Malek
1963,
p. 113;Rodinson1974,p. 47; and Said 1978,passim.
22. Hourni1980,pp. 14-15.
Orientalism 397
millionsof men and womenhave livedformanycenturies."23 Thus thrust

down fromtranshistorical omnipotenceto thelow commondenominatorof
basic beliefs,rituals,devotions,and precepts,it shouldbe reallyregardedas
eithertoo triviala factorto risebeyondthelevelof individualconsciousness,
or, as Islam should be properlytreated(like all religions),as a severely
nominalisticentitywhichfunctionsin a purelydesignatorycapacityin the
sphereof Islamic societies,histories,and geographicalunits,withoutthis
Islamismhavingfurtherconsequencesas to the internaldeterminationof
theseunitsbeyondthe name.24Islam remainsas one among other,equally
determinantfactors,in the historyof certainsocieties,but this does not
make its own specificeffectivity any less real- only more limited.Millions
of menand womenhavebeenguidedbyitintheirlives,and thescope ofthis
guidance is almost infinitely flexiblein dimensions,especiallyas Islam is
articulatedin that hazy term,"a systemof law" of unspecifiedextent.
Islamic law for Orientalists,however,is the sole surface of contiguity
betweenthingsIslamic and worldliness.Its scope and extentis therefore
almost integrallycoterminouswith Islamic societies insofaras they are
Islamic, to which "Islamic law" stands in a fully mtonymierelation.
Withoutthissystemof guidance,Muslimswould not have been definedas
Muslims, and would thereforenot have been the objects of Islamistic
investigation. WithoutIslam as essence,even ifit has to givesome ground,
thereis no Islamic history,no Islamic subject matter,no Islamic Studies
institutions.Withoutit, the Muslimswho, as social beings,"act like other
men caughtin a web of traditionsand presentneeds,"25would be merely
"like othermen caughtin a web of traditionsand presentneeds." Except
that"traditions"herecan be none else thanthe Islamic thatdefineIslamic
societies.
Not strictlythehomo islamicusin all hisglory,then,but onlypartlyhomo
islamicusand partlyMan. Only partIslam, onlypartnatureparticularized
intoa Book and a Law, butstillIslam,not merelyas Book and Law, butas
23. Ibid.
24. I havearguedthecase forsucha nominalism m termsof thesociologyot
religionin my"Muqaddimat ta'sisiyalili-Islamal-mucasir,"in DirasatArabiya17
(April,1981).I statedthat,likeotherreligions, Islamis thearticulationin specific
instances historical
of a specific formation ofsignswhichrelateto thatopposition
between sanctityand profanity whichhistory and accidenthas specified as being
Islamic.ThespecificityofIslamisaffirmed ina number forms
ofhistorical whichdo
notso muchexpressan Islamicessenceas perform valorizations
specific ofelements
whichformthe bare featuresof this specificity: elementary dogmaticitems,
fundamental devotions,anda system ofbasicprescriptions andprohibitions. Thereis
as suchno"Islamicrevolution," forinstance, buta revolutionwithIslam.A similar
basicideainforms thefundamental prefatory pointsmadebyCharnay (1977),butitis
unfortunately notdeployedthrough thebook.
25. Houran1980,loc. cit.
transhistoricalparadigm. Otherwise,therewould be no criteriaby which

"Islamic and Middle Eastern History"could exist; withoutthe Islam that
becomes an historicaland geographicallocation,amongmanyotherthings,
and withoutthe totemicgeographywhichconcretizesthe subdivisionsof
Orientalism,therecould be no Islamic Studies.26
Ill
We have, so far, described a circle whose locus is set by its cardinal

progenitor,the parochialismof a culture.Orientalismitselfas a scholarly
discipline(or as folk representation) has not traversedmuch of a distance
since V olney,and has not substantiallyadvanced theconceptionoftheEast
that we found in Nietzsche. Only last year London publisherssaw fitto
exhume and reprintbooks by Brockelmanand O'Leary on Islamic history
and Arab-Islamicphilosophywhichrepresentwell below the averagethat
the nineteenthcenturycould offerin termsof both factualaccuracyand
conceptualcontent.Orientalistscholarshiphas producedmuchwritingsof
which by far the greatest amount is, conceptually,so systematically
misleadingand misdirectedas to be worthless.The contribution ofOriental-
ist scholarshipto learningis verymeagrein relationto the relativelylong
time it has existed, and can virtuallybe reduced to editions (some of
outstandingvalue) of Arabic and othertexts,to cataloguingmanuscript
sources, to the compilation of bibliographies,the preparationof textual
concordances,the compilationof some dictionaries,and cognate acts of
scholarship.Orientalistdiscourse,we haveseen,is a repetitionof motifsand
their constant rediscoverythrough the simple techniques of Oriental
scholarship,so that this scholarshipconsists fundamentallyof so many
transferrences of value judgements,as Laroui has pointedout.27Whyis it
that,afteralmosttwo centuriesofcontinuousresearch,nothingbetterexists
in Arab-Islamichistoriography thanan encyclopediaarticlebyGibb and an
unperceptive and superficialbook by F. Rosenthal(whichhas runintotwo
editions)? And is it not baffling ofthehundredsofbooks and articleson
that
Ibn Khaldun all but a score are worthless?Indeed, anyone who reads
extensivelyin Orientalistwritingcannotbut be struckby the factthatthe
scholarlyvulgate of Orientalismwas establishedveryearly on- the latter
part of the nineteenthcenturyat the latest- and has been virtuallyun-
changed in its main conceptionsever since. We do not findchanges and
transformations, only improvements ofdetail,on theworksofGoldziher,of
Macdonald, of De Boer (an exceptionallyperceptiveOrientalist),of Gibb's
26. See Hourni"The PresentStateof Islamicand MiddleEasternHistori-

ography"in Binder1976and Hourni1980.
27. Laroui 1976,p. 53..
Orientalism 399
conceptionof Arabic historiography, of Wellhausen(despite seriouschal-

lengeswhich, in fieldsotherthan history,would have renderedhis
Oriental
workobsolete). We have heremorethanthesheerdeadweightof tradition:
we have that deadweightsteeledby generalfolk culture.
Orientalismis congenitallyincapableof trulysyntheticstudieswhichgo
beyondthe enumerationof Islamic things.Work such as that of the late
Marshall Hodgson commandsrespectforits open and bold spirit,but no
convictionexcept in some points of detail. In an age such as this, the
computercan slog throughthe technicaltasksdemandedof an Orientalist,
theworkofconcordance,correlation, indexing,and referencing, and a good
but small startis takingplace in Francein thisdirectionundertheauspices
of the Instituteforthe Historyof Texts.This does not, of course,exhaust
philology.The Orientalistcan stillinspirein himselfthe spiritthatinspires
thesuperiorphilologiesundertaken inotherfieldswhichhe can setforhimself
as examples.The superiorphilologyof Auerbachand Curtiusin thefieldof
Romance languages(and muchmore),theworkof Trier,forinstance,and
his numerousfollowersin Germanicphilology,even the greatnineteenth-
centuryclassical philologistssuch as Wilamowitz-Mollendorf, Mommsen,
and Rohde (not to speak of his sometimefriendFriedrichNietzsche)and
laterGreekscholarsas Jaegerand Confordand, today,J.-P. Vernant,are
no less an example of philologicalpossibilitiesthan the work of numerous
biblicalscholarssince Spinoza, Strauss,and Schleiermacher,of compara-
tive Indo-European mythologysuch as that of Dumzil and, in a more
polymathicvein, the investigationsof Frances Yates and other scholars
attachedto the WarburgInstituteand of A. Lovejoy in the generalhistory
of ideas, which should certainlynot be excluded from the province of
philology.A verysmall numberof scholarswithOrientalisttraininghave in
facteschewedthe problematicsand thematicsset by Orientalismand have
venturedintoterritories previously untroddenbythisscience;one could men-
tion in this vein the work of R. Arnaldez,A. Miquel, and, perhaps in a
slightlymore old-fashionedmanner,J. Van Ess.
Yet one cannotsay thattheseinstancesrepresent theinstaurationofa new
order withinOrientalism.The textureof Orientalismis composed of its
institutionswiththeiroral deliveryof thevulgateand narrowphilological
training, of enlightenedand culturedscholars;even superiorphilology
not
cannotthrivein thedebilitating warmthof thatbovinecoziness inducedby
the implicitparadigmaticunderstanding prevalentin Orientalistinstitu-
tions.Even superiorphilologyin itstraditionalacceptationhas determinate
limits,28althoughsome of its products(E. Auerbach,for instance) have
unreflexively crossed these limits.And it must not be forgottenthat the
worksof Trierand Vernant,forexample,werewrittenand conceivedwith
in a forthcoming
28. I discussthesematters essayon philology.
epistemologica!
explicitreference and Lvi-Strauss'

to social sciences(Saussurianlinguistics
anthropology)beyond the pale of philology.Similarly, mustbe pointed
it
out that Miquel's study of a tale fromthe Arabian Nightsand Izutsu's
studies of the Qur'an29are also undertakenwithparticularreferenceto
linguistics.And beyond linguisticsproper we now have the sciences of
narrativeand of cultureas developed by Barthesand Foucault, among
others.
The perspectivesopen to Orientalphilologyare thereforeby no means
closed, except by the existenceof Orientalistinstitutions.In thecontextof
the studyof the Orient,improvement can only be achievedifArabic and
Islamic studiesceased to be Arabic and Islamic studiesas such and if its
componentswere insertedin theirrespectivesocial science contextswhile
Arabic philology became, once again, strictlyArabic (or Persian, etc.)
philology.It is far worse to have multidisciplinarinessin conjunctionwith
the deadweightof Orientalism(for it will attachto no discipline)than to
have what is called departmentalspecialization.It is only by removingthe
disnatureof Arabs and Muslimsand naturalizing themthatone can putinto
effectE. Said's worthyadvocacy of a deabstractionist humanism.30 But to
do so one requiresrathermorethanE. Said's hermeneutics, and morethan
his conceptionof intellectualhistoryas a formof Geistesgeschichte .31And
for this same purpose, one also requires more than just the purified
Marxism advocated by B. Turneron thegroundsof being"fullyequipped"
fordestroyingOrientalismin theprocessof purgingitselfof the nineteenth
century.32Both are commendable,in conjunctionwithmuch else, on the
condition that one did not conceive of theirgraftingupon the existing
structureof Orientalistlearningas the meansofreforming Orientalism.The
sheer intromissionof knowledgeintotheOrientalistinstitution is, withfew
exceptions, likely only to produce scholars about whom we can join
Nietzschewhen,in the eighthparagraphof his Beyond Good and Evil, he
quotes an ancient mystery:
Adventatitasinus
Puleher et fortissimus
29. Izutsu1959 and others,Miquel 1977.

30. This seemsto be thepositiveimpulseof thepolemicof Said 1978.
31. It is surprising
foran evocatorofFoucaultas Said is to thrust
hisargument
forhumanization in thedirection
ofan almostempiricistconcernwithparticulari-
zationandsuigenerisspecificationofsubjects
(ofvariousdescriptions, the
including
Orient).
32. Turner1978,p. 85.
Orientalism 401
REFERENCES
Abdel-Malek,A. 1963. "L'Orientalismeen crise." In Diogene, 44.

Adams, C. 1976."Islamic ReligiousTradition."In Binder 1976.
Althusser,L. 1972. Politics and History: Montesquieu, Rousseau, Hegel
and Marx. Trans, by B. Brewster.London.
Antoun,R. T. 1976. "Anthropology. In Binder 1976.
Al-Azmeh, A. 1976. "What is the Islamic City?" In Review of Middle
Eastern Studies,2.
. 1980.Ibn Khaldunin ModernScholarship:A Studyin Orientalism.
London.
Berque, J. 1944. Essai sur le methode juridique maghrebine.Rabat.
Binder,L. (ed.). 1976. lhe Study oj the Mdate Last, rsiewYorK.
Brunschvig,R. 1962."Averroesjuriste. In Etudes d orientalismededieesa
la memoirede Levi-Provencal. Vol. 1. Paris.
Cahen, CI. 1955. "L'Histoire conomiqueet sociale de l'Orientmusulman
medieval."In Studia Islamica, 3.
Carlebach, J. 1978. Karl Marx and the Radical Critique of Judaism.
London.
Charnay,J.-P. 1977. Sociologie religieusede I Islam. Pans
Daniel, N. 1960. Islam and the West. Edinburgh.
Fuck, J. 1955. Die arabischenStudien in Europa. Leipzig.
Gabrieli,F. 1965. "Apologie de l'orientalisme. In Diogene, 50.
Gautier, E. -F. 1924. "Un passage dlbn Khaldoun et du Bayan. In
H esperis, 4.
Hegel, G.W.F. 1956. The Philosophyof History.Trans, by J. Sibree. New
York.
Hourni, A. H. 1980. Europe and the Middle East. London.
Izutsu,T. 1959. The Structureof the Ethical Termsin the Koran. Tokyo.
Al-Jabiri,M.A. 1980. Nahnu wat-turath.Beirut.
Kedourie,E. 1974. Arabic Political Memoires. London.
Laroui, A. 1976. "The Arabs and Cultural Anthropology:Notes on the
Method of Gustave von Grunebaum."In idem., The Crisis of the
Arab Intellectual.Trans,by D. Cammell.Berkeleyand Los Angeles.
Lvi-Strauss,C. 1978. StructuralAnthropology2, Trans, by M. Layton.
Harmondsworth.
Lewis, B. 1979. "The State of Middle Eastern Studies." In The American
Scholar, 48.
Miquel, A. 1977. Un conte des mille et une nuits. Paris.
Nietzsche,F. 1966. The Birthof TragedyfromtheSpiritoj Music. In idem.,
The Philosophyof Nietzsche.Edited and trans,by W. Kaufmann.
New York.
Oumlil, A. 1979. L'Histoire et son discours. Rabat.

Renan, E. 1878. Histoire generale et systemecompare des languessemi-
tiques. 5th ed. Paris.
Ritter, H. 1948. "Irrational Solidarity Groups, A Socio-Psychological
Study in Connection with Ibn Khaldun." In Orlens, 1.
Rodinson, M. 1974. "The WesternImage and WesternStudiesofIslam." In
The Legacy of Islam. EditedbyC. E. BosworthandJ.Schacht.Oxford.
Said, E. 1978. Orientalism.London.
Schopenhauer,A. 1974. The FourfoldRoot of the Principleof Sufficient
Reason. Trans, by E.F.J. Payne. La Salle, Illinois.
Southern, R. W. 1962. Western Views of Islam in the Middle Ages.
Cambridge,Mass.
Tibawi, A. L. 1979. English- Speaking Orientalists.London.
Turner, B. 1978. Marx and the End of Orientalism.London.
Vico, G. 1948. The New Science of GiambattistaVico. Trans, by T. G.
Bergin and M. H. Fisch. Ithaca, N.Y.
Volney,C.-F., 1787. Travelsin Syriaand Egyptin the Years1783,1784,and
1785. 2 vols. London.

Al-Azmeh (1981) - The Articulation of Orientalism

Загружено:

Сведения о документе

Авторское право

Доступные форматы

Поделиться этим документом

Поделиться или встроить документ

Параметры публикации

Этот документ был вам полезен?

Это неприемлемый материал?

Авторское право:

Доступные форматы

Al-Azmeh (1981) - The Articulation of Orientalism

Загружено:

Авторское право:

Доступные форматы

Pluto Journals

The Articulation of Orientalism

The Arabsattainas perfect inwriting

Two statementswhich,butforreference to thingsOriental,have nothing

Aziz Al-Azmeh teachesphilosophyat KuwaitUniversityandis theauthorofIbn

384 ASQ Volume 3 Number 4

opennessto a hiddenvastnessof significance, thattranslatesthestatement

oftheSemiticJewsto theEastis difficult

fall is laden withthe "pre-eminently feminineaffects"of "curiosity,men-

theleast,and is farmorecomplexthanthatof Arabs,Islam,or theIndians,for

image of the paradigmaticOccident,and thus a repositoryof negativity,

In termsof thediscreteelementsto whichtheyrefer,the statementsthat

their abstract givenness.It also foundsthem as semanticand discursive

4. E. Said (1978)has devoteda wholechapter to thescopeofOrientalism (pp.31

world,theunitsofOrientalist discourserepresent a worldrelatedto theWest

5. Lvi-Strauss1978,p. 327. In a replyto Abdel-Malek(1963),an eminent

We shall not take up the topoithatformtheOrientin itstopicalcapacity.

term"Islam." This mass of detail is organizedaccordingto the exigencies

10. Laroui(1976) has shownhowthedictation ofan entireculturebya central

Islamism and by confirmingIslam as the author of all thingsIslamic.

13. Antoun1976,p. 169.Thecomments ofCahen,1953,are,withfewexceptions,

The selectionof segmentsfromtheempiricalmanifoldto serveas facts,

15. As forthissuperimposed orderofconsequence, onecouldsurmise thatitonly

Reduction to a thematicclass- say/'orthodoxy"or "the Islamic city"-

18. Degenerationis a toposconstantly ArabicandIslamic,

of scandalous literalisttranslationsof Arabic(mainly)medievaltextsinto

Islammustbe seenfromtheperspective of history

It is veryeasy forthe authorof thisquotation,C. Adams, to demonstrate

. . . evenwhenwe can use theconceptof"Islam"to explainsomething in a

Hourni takes explicit cognizance of sociological, ecological, and other

millionsof men and womenhave livedformanycenturies."23 Thus thrust

transhistoricalparadigm. Otherwise,therewould be no criteriaby which

We have, so far, described a circle whose locus is set by its cardinal

26. See Hourni"The PresentStateof Islamicand MiddleEasternHistori-

conceptionof Arabic historiography, of Wellhausen(despite seriouschal-

explicitreference and Lvi-Strauss'

29. Izutsu1959 and others,Miquel 1977.

Abdel-Malek,A. 1963. "L'Orientalismeen crise." In Diogene, 44.

Oumlil, A. 1979. L'Histoire et son discours. Rabat.

Вам также может понравиться