Season 1
Ep. 2 Orientalism and the Debate over Cultural Diversity, with Dr. Mohamed Afifi — On Orientalism
Ep. 1 Orientalism and the Justification of Western Colonialism, with Dr. George Al-Faar — On Orientalism
Reductionism is a key logic of orientalist representation. In this episode, guest dr. Mohamed Afifi discusses the critical role of (mis)translation in early orientalist scholarship, travel literature as a vehicle for stereotyping and manichean narratives about ‘the Orient’, and the orientalists’ double-sided approach to the cultural diversity of Arab-Islamic spheres: on the one hand, a monolithic cultural representation - on the other, an imperialist ‘divide and conquer’ strategy that instrumentalises ethnic, religious, and sectarian diversity. Switch on video for English subtitles! Mohamed Afifi is the head of the history department at Cairo’s University Faculty of Arts, and former chairman of Egypt’s Supreme Council of Culture. Scholar of modern Egyptian and Ottoman history, his research probes the Ottoman conquest of Egypt and its confluence with colonial struggles for power, as well as its historiography. He also authored the historical novel Ya’coub set during the French campaign in Egypt (1798-1801).
In this first episode, Yassin Adnan and guest dr. George Al-Faar trace orientalism’s pivotal role in providing the ideological foundations for Western colonialism, as well as its ongoing justification. Examining the vast body of early orientalist writings across several disciplines, they bring the enmeshment of intellectual and military goals to light – from Napoleon’s scholars in Egypt to intelligence networks of the modern era. Analysing the globalized orientalism of our day, Adnan and dr. Al-Faar touch on colonial modes of production and a conflicted Arab subjectivity today. Switch on video for English subtitles! George Al-Faar is a writer and researcher at the philosophy faculty of the University of Jordan. He is a member of the Jordan Writers Association, the Jordanian Philosophical Society, and the Arab Philosophical Society. His research spans ethics, metaphysics, and theology in Ancient Greek, Christian, and Arab-Islamic thought. His latest work is concerned with orientalism as a global epistemology.
Welcome to On Orientalism, an Arabic-language podcast series bringing together scholars from across the Arab world and Europe to examine Orientalism as both a historical phenomenon and a living system of representation. In this introductory episode, host Yassin Adnan lays out the key questions of this project, as well as its political stakes. For more details visit www.moussem.be/en Yassin Adnan is a Moroccan writer, editor and journalist. Broadcaster of several cultural programmes since years, he now hosts the podcast Fi l’Istichrak (On Orientalism) with the London-based Mujtama platform for historical and critical studies. Board member of the International Prize for Arabic Fiction (IPAF), editor of Marrakech Noir ; he has issued five poetry anthologies, three short story collections, and the novel Hot Maroc. His work has been published in Arabic, English and French, with forthcoming Italian and German translations of his novel.