Orientalist Speech-acts and Israeli Middle East Studies: Cautions and Criticisms of Edward Said Beyond the Battle of Ideas

2019 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 221-237
Author(s):  
Eyal Clyne
Keyword(s):  
Middle East ◽  
Speech Acts ◽  
Edward Said ◽  
Discursive Practices ◽  
Academic World ◽  
The Social ◽  
Social Theories ◽  
Middle East Studies

Drawing on speech acts theory, this article discusses the illocutionary and perlocutionary forces of discursive practices with which certain academic circles seek to discredit the Saidian ‘Orientalism’ framework. Identifying the unusual value attached to Said as object of attachment or detachment, desirability and exceptionality, this analysis turns away from deliberations about ‘orientalism’ as a party in a battle of ideas, and studies common cautionary statements and other responses by peers as actions in the social (academic) world, that enculture and police expectations. Cautioning subjects about this framework, or conditioning its employment to preceding extensive pre-emptive complicating mitigations, in effect constructs this framework as undesirable and ‘risky’. While strong discursive reactions are not uncommon in academia, comparing them to treatments of less-controversial social theories reveals formulations, meanings and attentions which are arguably reserved for this ‘theory’. Conclusively, common dismissals, warnings and criticisms of Said and ‘Orientalism’ often exemplify Saidian claims, as they deploy the powerful advantage of enforcing hegemonic, and indeed Orientalist, views.

Middle East Studies for the New Milleniu

2016 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Middle East ◽  
Structural Changes ◽  
Ways Of Knowing ◽  
The United States ◽  
American University ◽  
The Social ◽  
Big Picture ◽  
The University ◽  
Middle East Studies ◽  
The Relationship

Few world regions today are of more pressing social and political interest than the Middle East: hardly a day has passed in the last decade without events there making global news. Understanding the region has never been more important, yet the field of Middle East studies in the United States is in flux, enmeshed in ongoing controversies about the relationship between knowledge and power, the role of the federal government at universities, and ways of knowing other cultures and places. This book explores the big-picture issues affecting the field, from the geopolitics of knowledge production to structural changes in the university to broader political and public contexts. Tracing the development of the field from the early days of the American university to the Islamophobia of the present day, this book explores Middle East studies as a discipline and, more generally, its impact on the social sciences and academia. Topics include how different disciplines engage with Middle East scholars, how American universities teach Middle East studies and related fields, and the relationship between scholarship and U.S.–Arab relations, among others. This book presents a comprehensive, authoritative overview of how this crucial field of academic inquiry came to be and where it is going next.

Introduction: The Many Crises of Middle East Studies

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Seteney Shami ◽  
Cynthia Miller-Idriss
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Middle East ◽  
Social Science Research ◽  
Science Research ◽  
The Social ◽  
University Restructuring ◽  
The Many ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Middle East Studies

This introductory chapter sets out the book's purpose, which is to draw a portrait of the issues animating and challenging the field of Middle East studies (MES) in their academic and national contexts. The book presents some of the findings of a decade-long (2000–2010) research project organized by the Social Science Research Council in New York, which began with examining Middle East studies and expanded to investigate other area studies fields as well as the thrust toward the global in US universities. It is concerned with three main themes: the relationship between MES and various disciplines (political science, sociology, economics, and geography), current reformulations and new emphases in MES (in terms of university restructuring, language training, and scholarly trends), the politics of knowledge, and the impact on the field of MES of the many crises in the region.

Current Developments and Future Directions in Middle Eastern Studies

2000 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 117-126 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philip S. Khoury
Keyword(s):  
Middle East ◽  
Middle Eastern ◽  
Basic Research ◽  
Policy Formation ◽  
Future Directions ◽  
International Agencies ◽  
Middle Eastern Studies ◽  
The Social ◽  
New Directions ◽  
Middle East Studies

What are some of the new directions that specialists are beginning to chart for Middle Eastern studies? Middle East specialists are finding ways of linking their basic research on these questions and others to policy formation, and, in so doing, they are becoming more closely connected than ever before to international agencies and organizations focused on global change. The charting of these new directions could in time enable the Middle East studies field not only to make new substantive contributions to knowledge but also to convince the social sciences to recognize and incorporate this new knowledge.

scholarly journals Forestillinger om Edward Said og Orientalism’s (ikke helt så) store indflydelse på studiet af Mellemøsten

2009 ◽  
Vol 20 (3) ◽  
pp. 11-31
Author(s):  
Morten Valbjørn
Keyword(s):  
Middle East ◽  
Key Words ◽  
Sociology Of Knowledge ◽  
Edward Said ◽  
Profound Impact ◽  
Academic Fields ◽  
Institutional Contexts ◽  
American Academia ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Middle East Studies

Mens Saids Orientalism selv er en kritisk meta-studie af ”vestlige forestillinger om Orienten”, har denne artikel til formål at problematisere og nuancere en fremherskende forestilling vedrørende dette værks indflydelse på studiet af Mellemøsten, nemlig at det skulle være svært at overdrive indflydelsen fra Orientalism på Mellemøststudierne (MØS), som nærmest skulle være blevet transformeret af den said’ianske Orientalism-kritik. Artiklens overordnede argument om Edward W. Said og Orientalism’s ikke helt så store indflydelse på studiet af Mellemøsten udvikles i tre skridt, hvor det første har til formål at vise, hvordan det snarere er uden for studiet af Mellemøsten, at Saids indflydelse har været størst. Et af de akademiske felter, hvor Said nærmest har været ignoreret, er derimod orientalistikken, som ellers tildeles størstedelen af bogens opmærksomhed. Hvad MØS angår, er det ganske vist muligt at spore en påvirkning fra Orientalism. Den er imidlertid ikke blot mindre end ofte hævdet, men varierer også betragteligt i både karakter og omfang. Det andet skridt har derfor til formål at identificere karakteren af den said’ianske indflydelse, der viser sig at være ganske kompleks og tvetydig. Det kan således være relevant at sondre mellem indflydelsen fra den said’ianske kritik af MØS og fra kritikken af de said-ianske MØS. Endvidere varierer omfanget af denne indflydelse inden for forskellige dele af MØS. Det tredje skridt består derfor af en sammenligning af den said’ianske påvirkning blandt mellemøstforskere med forskellig disciplinær baggrund og inden for forskellige kultur-institutionelle kontekster. ENGELSK ABSTRACT: Morten Valbjørn: Conceptions about Edward Said and Orientalism’s (Less) Profound Impact on the Study of the Middle East While Edward Said’s Orientalism is a study of ”Western conceptions of the Orient”, the purpose of this article is to question one of the prevalent conceptions concerning Said’s influence on the study of the Middle East. This article examines the claim that it is hard to exaggerate the impact from Said on the field of Middle East Studies (MES), which is supposed to have been almost transformed by his Orientalism critique. The article concludes that this claim is much of an exaggeration itself. The impact of Orientalism appears more profound in academic fields which are not particularly concerned with the Middle East, and its influence within the study of the Middle East appears rather ambiguous. Thus, it is necessary not only to make a distinction between the impact of the Said’ian critique of MES and of the critique of the Said’ian MES, but also to distinguish between the uneven influence of Said among Middle East scholars with different disciplinary training and from different cultural-institutional contexts. Key words: Edward Said, Orientalism, Middle East, Middle East Studies, sociology of knowledge, European vs. American academia.

Cross-Regional Approaches to Middle East Studies: Constructing and Deconstructing a Region

2007 ◽  
Vol 41 (1) ◽  
pp. 24-29 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charles Kurzman
Keyword(s):  
North Carolina ◽  
Middle East ◽  
Research Council ◽  
Social Science Research ◽  
Science Research ◽  
The Past ◽  
Chapel Hill ◽  
The Social ◽  
The University ◽  
Middle East Studies

The Middle East is deconstructing—that is, the concept of a coherent geographic entity with the label “Middle East.” A Thematic Conversation on this subject began at the 2005 MESA Annual Meeting in Washington, D.C., and will conclude at the 2007 meeting in Montréal. These discussions grow out of efforts in the 1990s to rethink area studies globally, spurred by programs at the Ford Foundation, the Mellon Foundation, and the Social Science Research Council, among others. A variety of scholars have taken up these issues with regard to the Middle East specifically over the past decade, including the Carolina Center for the Study of the Middle East and Muslim Civilizations at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, which organized this Thematic Conversation.

Middle East Studies for the New Millennium: Infrastructures of Knowledge

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lisa Anderson
Keyword(s):  
Middle East ◽  
Social Science ◽  
Social Science Research ◽  
Science Research ◽  
Social Scientists ◽  
Mechanical Field ◽  
The Social ◽  
Institutional Contexts ◽  
Global World ◽  
Middle East Studies

This chapter deplores the state of Middle East social sciences, which is described as demoralized, lacking academic freedom and reliable research data, and functioning in a general climate of repression, neglect, and isolation. Such conditions call into question the extent to which future social scientists will be able to build supportive scholarly communities or develop critical perspectives so key to social science research and the investigation of questions of public import. Echoing discussions in this volume on methodological shifts in the social science disciplines, it argues that the quantitative turn has produced a narrow, mechanical field unable to move forward in ways that attend to the diversity of the social and political world. As the field has emphasized technical skills over moral imperatives, and as the institutional contexts of US universities has changed, the result has been a simultaneous narrowing of the field and a projection of greater universalization for a global world.

Introduction

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-30
Author(s):  
Tamara Sonn
Keyword(s):  
North America ◽  
Middle East ◽  
American Academy ◽  
The Political ◽  
Edward Said ◽  
Negative Stereotypes ◽  
American Council ◽  
Political Implications ◽  
The World ◽  
Middle East Studies

If Edward Said is known for identifying the political implications of negative stereotypes of Islam, John L. Esposito is known for correcting them. This chapter summarizes the significance of Esposito’s contributions to the study of Islam and his leadership in inspiring other scholars around the world. The best-known scholar of Islam in North America, Esposito has published more than seventy books, as well as handbooks, encyclopedias, and other sources that have become standard academic references. He has served as president of the American Council for the Study of Islamic Societies, the Middle East Studies Association, and the American Academy of Religion. This chapter also introduces the chapters contained in this volume, which extend his work in four areas: the secular bias of Orientalism, its failure to recognize both the enormous diversity within Islam and profound similarities between Islam and other religions, and the current iteration of Orientalism: Islamophobia.

Beyond the Urban

2014 ◽  
Vol 46 (1) ◽  
pp. 172-174
Author(s):  
Nancy Y. Reynolds
Keyword(s):  
Middle East ◽  
Public Space ◽  
Social Order ◽  
Built Environments ◽  
Port Cities ◽  
Housing Projects ◽  
The Social ◽  
Middle East Studies

Studies of public space focus disproportionately on cities. Complex and densely populated urban built environments—with their streets, plazas, institutional buildings, housing projects, markets—make concrete and visible attempts to manage difference. They also structure the ways that less powerful residents challenge and sometimes remake elites’ spatial visions of the social order. The robust literature in Middle East studies on Islamic cities, colonial cities, dual cities, quarters and ethnicities, port cities, and so forth is no exception to this urban focus.

The Effect of the Political Situation in the City of Jerusalem on the Rights of the Jerusalem Women

1970 ◽  
pp. 36-47
Author(s):  
Fadwa Al-Labadi
Keyword(s):  
Middle East ◽  
Middle Eastern ◽  
Colonial Period ◽  
Sexual Life ◽  
Family Status ◽  
Colonial Legacy ◽  
Legal Principle ◽  
The Social ◽  
The City ◽  
Legislative Processes

The concept of citizenship was introduced to the Arab and Islamic region duringthe colonial period. The law of citizenship, like all other laws and regulations inthe Middle East, was influenced by the colonial legacy that impacted the tribal and paternalistic systems in all aspects of life. In addition to the colonial legacy, most constitutions in the Middle East draw on the Islamic shari’a (law) as a major source of legislation, which in turn enhances the paternalistic system in the social sector in all its dimensions, as manifested in many individual laws and the legislative processes with respect to family status issues. Family is considered the nucleus of society in most Middle Eastern countries, and this is specifically reflected in the personal status codes. In the name of this legal principle, women’s submission is being entrenched, along with censorship over her body, control of her reproductive role, sexual life, and fertility.

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