Orientalism, Globalism and the Possibility of Alternative Systems of Representation
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Holger Rossow
Abstract
Orientalism and globalism refer to materially founded relations of power and domination and culturally constructed discourses that simultaneously conceal these relations and justify behavioural patterns or specific actions that sustain them. Drawing mainly on Said’s notions of representation, the role of the critical intellectual and the question of knowledge, this paper focuses on those aspects of Said’s work that either relate more immediately to the current concerns of an increasingly globalised world or are particularly useful methodologically or theoretically to provide a better understanding of the current discourse of globalism. Although globalisation cannot be simply perceived as the latest stage of imperialism, and globalism not as the most recent version of Orientalism, there are “overlapping territories” and “intertwined histories.” But there are also new questions and limits of Orientalism that need to be investigated. The main criterion for the consideration of certain aspects is not the centrality to Said’s work, but their relevance for the analysis of the hegemonic discourses of globalism and the possibility of producing alternative systems of representation.
© 2014 by Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co.
Articles in the same Issue
- Titelei
- Inhalt
- Editorial
- Irreconcilabilities and Transgressions: Edward W. Said’s Idea of a Wordly Criticism – An Introduction
- The Literary Presence of Atlantic Colonialism as Notation and Counterpoint
- Writing in Place: Edward Said’s Constructions of Exile
- Out of Place: Extraterritorial Existence and Autobiography
- Humanistic Criticism, Prophetic Pragmatism, and the Question of Antifoundationalism – Remarks on Edward Said and Cornel West
- Orientalism, Globalism and the Possibility of Alternative Systems of Representation
- Transnational Cultures and Multiple Modernities: Anthropology’s Encounter with Globalization
- Die Autoren dieses Heftes
Articles in the same Issue
- Titelei
- Inhalt
- Editorial
- Irreconcilabilities and Transgressions: Edward W. Said’s Idea of a Wordly Criticism – An Introduction
- The Literary Presence of Atlantic Colonialism as Notation and Counterpoint
- Writing in Place: Edward Said’s Constructions of Exile
- Out of Place: Extraterritorial Existence and Autobiography
- Humanistic Criticism, Prophetic Pragmatism, and the Question of Antifoundationalism – Remarks on Edward Said and Cornel West
- Orientalism, Globalism and the Possibility of Alternative Systems of Representation
- Transnational Cultures and Multiple Modernities: Anthropology’s Encounter with Globalization
- Die Autoren dieses Heftes
