scholarly journals The Arab World and the Occident: Toward the Construction of an Occidentalist Discourse

2021 ◽  
Vol 39 (2) ◽  
pp. 205-222
Author(s):  
Zahia Smail Salhi
Keyword(s):  
Arab World ◽  
The Self ◽  
The Other ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Reverse Relationship ◽  
Style Of Thought ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Insight Into ◽  
East West

Purpose: This article aims to engage in a meaningful discussion of Occidentalism as a discourse that draws its roots from Orientalism. It scrutinizes the limitations of Occidentalism in investigating the East-West encounter from the perspective of Orientals (Arab intellectuals) and the multifarious ways the latter relate to and imagine the Occident. It will cast a critical eye on the multiple and diverse constructions of Occidentalism as a discourse, arguing that unlike Orientalism, which homogenizes the Orient, Occidentalism does not Occidentalize/homogenize the Occident. Methodology: We take as a starting point Edward Said’s definition of Orientalism as a style of thought based upon an ontological and epistemological distinction made between ‘the Orient’ and ‘the Occident’, and we explore the limitations and the possibilities of Occidentalism as a method to construe the colonial mechanisms of misrepresentation of the Other as everything different from the Self. This article compares and contrasts a plethora of existing definitions of Occidentalism as formulated by scholars from both the Arab world and the Occident. Findings: This paper concludes that the Oriental’s encounter with the Occident cannot, and should not, be projected as a reverse relationship, or, as some claim, as an ‘Orientalism in reverse’. Instead, it should be projected as a diverse set of relationships of Orientals who have experienced the Occident in a variety of manners. Furthermore, while Orientalism derives from a particular closeness experienced between the Occident and its Orient, often through real or imagined encounters, Occidentalism is also the outcome of a long cultural relationship between the Orient and its Occident. What differs between the Orient and Occident, however, is the position of power and hegemony, which characterizes the Occident’s encounter with the Orient. Originality: This article takes an all-inclusive view to discuss the term Occidentalism from the perspectives of both the Orient and the Occident. It teases out the limitations of this term. It challenges Orientalist methods of misrepresentation, which continues to blemish the Arab world and its discourse of Occidentalism as a discourse of hatred of the Occident. Furthermore, through the discussion of Alloula’s Oriental Harem, it offers insight into the suggested Occidentalism method, which emphasizes the disfigurations of the Orient while tactfully writing back to the Occident.

Simple Hardworking Christian Folks, or the Self-Image of Contemporary Belarusian Kolkhozniks

2013 ◽  
Vol 27 (2) ◽  
pp. 260-279
Author(s):  
Anna Engelking
Keyword(s):  
Collective Identity ◽  
Field Research ◽  
The Self ◽  
Self Image ◽  
Building Process ◽  
The Common ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Christian Nation ◽  
Source Materials ◽  
Insight Into

This article concerns the anthropological inquiry about collective identity of contemporary Belarusian kolkhozniks. The author had conducted her field research (1993-2011) in both west and east Belarus. Source materials consist of about seven hundred conversations with individuals overwhelmingly more than sixty years of age. By analyzing and interpreting their narrative, the author traced the implicit values, norms, rules, basic semiotic dichotomies, and distinctive attributes in search of an unbiased insight into the content, structure, and building process of collective identity of the subjects under study. She concludes that the dichotomies, constitutive for collective identity of kolkhozniks—“peasant” versus “lord,” “peasant” versus “Jew,” and “Christian” versus “Jew”—result in the self-definition of muzhik-kolkhoznik as a simple, hard-working man “from here” belonging to a “Christian nation.” Neither the nation nor motherland, state nor language, belongs to the principal values of this group, which are “working the land” and “faith in God.” As a result of the petrifaction of the old model of the serfdom manor by the Soviet kolkhoz system, in a Belarusian village we presently encounter one of the last European residuals of premodern mentality and social identity. The image of Belarusian kolkhozniks’ collective identity has little to do with the popular category of Homo sovieticus and with the common stereotype of the kolkhoz. The human subject of the author’s anthropological reflection shows up as a person dealing amazingly well with extremely difficult living conditions and the modern, vivid personification of the archaic Homo religiosus.

scholarly journals Cinnamides Target Leishmania amazonensis Arginase Selectively

Molecules ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 25 (22) ◽  
pp. 5271
Author(s):  
Edson Roberto da Silva ◽  
Júlio Abel Alfredo dos Santos Simone Come ◽  
Simone Brogi ◽  
Vincenzo Calderone ◽  
Giulia Chemi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Caffeic Acid ◽  
Selective Inhibition ◽  
Leishmania Amazonensis ◽  
The Other ◽  
Computational Investigation ◽  
Weak Inhibitor ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Insight Into ◽  
Caffeic Acid Phenethyl Amide

Caffeic acid and related natural compounds were previously described as Leishmania amazonensis arginase (L-ARG) inhibitors, and against the whole parasite in vitro. In this study, we tested cinnamides that were previously synthesized to target human arginase. The compound caffeic acid phenethyl amide (CAPA), a weak inhibitor of human arginase (IC50 = 60.3 ± 7.8 μM) was found to have 9-fold more potency against L-ARG (IC50 = 6.9 ± 0.7 μM). The other compounds that did not inhibit human arginase were characterized as L-ARG, showing an IC50 between 1.3–17.8 μM, and where the most active was compound 15 (IC50 = 1.3 ± 0.1 μM). All compounds were also tested against L. amazonensis promastigotes, and only the compound CAPA showed an inhibitory activity (IC50 = 80 μM). In addition, in an attempt to gain an insight into the mechanism of competitive L-ARG inhibitors, and their selectivity over mammalian enzymes, we performed an extensive computational investigation, to provide the basis for the selective inhibition of L-ARG for this series of compounds. In conclusion, our results indicated that the compounds based on cinnamoyl or 3,4-hydroxy cinnamoyl moiety could be a promising starting point for the design of potential antileishmanial drugs based on selective L-ARG inhibitors.

The Tolstoy Connection in Bakhtin

PMLA ◽  
1985 ◽  
Vol 100 (1) ◽  
pp. 68-80 ◽  
Author(s):  
Caryl Emerson
Keyword(s):  
The Self ◽  
The Other ◽  
Good Reader ◽  
Death In Literature ◽  
Binary Model ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Good Starting Point ◽  
Relationship Of ◽  
The Relationship

Mikhail Bakhtin's work on Dostoevsky is well known. Less familiar, perhaps, is Bakhtin's attitude toward the other great Russian nineteenth-century novelist, Leo Tolstoy. This essay explores that “Tolstoy connection,” both as a means for interrogating Bakhtin's analytic categories and as a focus for evaluating the larger tradition of “Tolstoy versus Dostoevsky.” Bakhtin is not a particularly good reader of Tolstoy. But he does make provocative use of the familiar binary model to pursue his most insistent concerns: monologism versus dialogism, the relationship of authors to their characters, the role of death in literature and life, and the concept of the self. Bakhtin's comments on these two novelists serve as a good starting point for assessing the strengths and weaknesses of the Bakhtinian model in general and suggest ways one might recast the dialogue between Tolstoy and Dostoevsky on somewhat different, more productive ground.

scholarly journals Der Spannungsbogen von Autonomie und Verletzlichkeit. Eine phänomenologisch-anthropologische Reflexion / The Unsolved Tension between Autonomy and Vulnerability

2017 ◽  
Vol 39 (2-3) ◽  
pp. 349-363
Author(s):  
Alice Pugliese
Keyword(s):  
Phenomenological Approach ◽  
The Self ◽  
The Other ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Definition Of

Summary A phenomenological approach to anthropology should not propose a static definition of man, but inquire into specific human motivations, which never occur isolated. Therefore, the autonomy-dependency connection is presented as a possible human motivational ground. The notion of autonomy, presented with reference to the Kantian idea of the self-determining reason and to the Husserlian account of self-constitution, reveals in itself elements of dependency. On the other side, the notion of vulnerability and reliance is displayed through different approaches of Gehlen, MacIntyre and Toombs in order to illustrate dependency not as a mere capitulation of the subject, but as one of its intrinsic possibilities, which does not exclude autonomous will.

Autoethnographic International Relations: exploring the self as a source of knowledge

2010 ◽  
Vol 36 (3) ◽  
pp. 779-798 ◽  
Author(s):  
MORGAN BRIGG ◽  
ROLAND BLEIKER
Keyword(s):  
International Relations ◽  
Personal Experience ◽  
The Self ◽  
The Other ◽  
Knowledge Communities ◽  
Personal Involvement ◽  
Insight Into

AbstractResearch is all about a person's engagement with an issue. But most approaches to International Relations actively discourage personal involvement by the researcher. We question the adequacy of this norm and the related scholarly conventions. Instead, we explore how the personal experience of the researcher can be used as a legitimate and potentially important source of insight into politics. But we also note that simply telling the story of the researcher is inadequate. We engage the ensuing dilemmas by discussing how to both appreciate and evaluate autoethnographic insights. Rather than relying on pre-determined criteria, we argue that methodological uses of the self should be judged within knowledge communities and according to their ability to open up new perspectives on political dilemmas. We then advance two related suggestions: one advocates conceptualising research around puzzles; the other explores the methodological implications of recognising that producing knowledge is an inherently relational activity.

scholarly journals Towards Modern Greek Consciousness

2005 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
pp. 51
Author(s):  
Loukia Droulia
Keyword(s):  
The Self ◽  
Common Language ◽  
Human Group ◽  
War Of Independence ◽  
Modern Greek ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Of Greece ◽  
Over Time

<p>This paper deals with the subject of Modern Greek consciousness which can be said epigrammatically to have its starting point in the Provisional Constitution of Greece ratified by the Assembly of Epidaurus in January 1822. For it was then necessary that two crucial questions be answered, namely who were to be considered as citizens of the new state about to be created and what regions it covered. The attempt to find answers to these questions necessarily led to the re-examination of the Greek nation's historical course over the millenia.</p><p>For this purpose the terms that express the concepts which register the self-definition of a human group and their use over time, are here examined as well as the links that formed the connection between the groups of Greek-speaking Orthodox Christians who, as a result of historical circumstances, had until then been geographically scattered. One solid link was the unbroken use of their common language; the "ancestral culture" was the other definitive element which had a continuous though uneven presence throughout the centuries. Finally the "place", having preserved the same geographical name, "Hellas", through the centuries although its borders were certainly unclear, now took on a weighty significance as regards the conscious identification of the historical land with the new state that the Greeks were struggling to create in the nineteenth century. These and other factors contributed to the acceptance by the Greek nation of the nomenclature <em>Ellines, Ellada</em> which were unanimously adopted during the Greek war of Independence, instead of the terms <em>Graikoi, Romioi, Graikia</em>.</p>

scholarly journals El género narrativo de Testo yonqui. Aproximación a la deriva ensayística de Paul B. Preciado

2020 ◽  
pp. 191-214
Author(s):  
Pau Conde Arroyo
Keyword(s):  
Guinea Pig ◽  
Theoretical Framework ◽  
The Self ◽  
The Other ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
The One ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
The Relationship

Este artículo trata de problematizar la definición taxonómica de Testo yonqui desde una óptica literaria que atiende a su faceta narrativa para dilucidar los cauces por los que se manifiesta en tanto que ensayo queer. Dicha problematización es abordada desde dos lugares: por un lado, desde la propia obra, atendiendo a las autodefiniciones presentes en el texto, que son examinadas a partir del marco teórico de la autobiografía; y, por otro lado, desde la recepción crítica de Testo yonqui. En último lugar, a la luz de lo anterior, se exponen una serie de tensiones relativas a la relación entre narración, referente y representación en la propuesta experimental del principio autocobaya.   This article aims to question the taxonomical definition of Testo Junkie from a literary perspective that considers its narrative aspect in order to elucidate the ways in which it can be regarded as a queer essay. Such questioning is approached from two angles: on the one hand, from the work itself, examining the self-definitions found in the text, which are studied on the basis of the theoretical framework of autobiography; and, on the other hand, from Testo Junkie’s critic reception. Lastly, the principle of the auto-guinea pig is also explored, in reference to the series of tensions arising from the relationship between narration, referent and representation.

scholarly journals The “refugee crisis” in Europe – between totality and the infinite

2019 ◽  
pp. 37-52
Author(s):  
Moisés de Lemos Martins
Keyword(s):  
The Self ◽  
The Other ◽  
Refugee Crisis ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
The Relationship

The self and the other. Totality and the infinite. In other words, totality as the discourse of the self which erases the other; and the infinite as the discourse of the other, which constrains and imposes reservations on the discourse of totality. I encounter the other in a face-to-face relationship, who thereby starts to exist within me, becomes part of me, constitutes me. This is the path whereby we fall in love, and can also be the path of compassion and solidarity. But the relationship with the other is not exhausted in the encounter. The encounter with the other is often followed by erasure, assimilation, and even domination of the other. Strictly speaking, we can say that the other can never be reduced to the self, i.e. may never be erased within me. And if the issue at stake is to ignore the other, or segregate, discriminate and dominate him, this implies exerting a form of violence over him. This is my starting point and my focus on discussing the “refugee crisis” in Europe.

scholarly journals IMPACT OF IDENTITY-ORIENTED LITERATURE EDUCATION ON ADOLESCENTS' INSIGHT INTO THE SELF AND THE OTHER

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Grandits ◽  
Keyword(s):  
High School Students ◽  
The Self ◽  
The Other ◽  
Literary Texts ◽  
School Students ◽  
Pedagogical Intervention ◽  
Upper Secondary ◽  
Quasi Experimental ◽  
Literature Education ◽  
Insight Into

A mixed-methods quasi-experimental study evaluated the effects of a pedagogical intervention in literature education on Austrian upper secondary high school students’ insight into the self and the other. The intervention is based on the newly developed NDR-model, the letters in the abbreviation representing the basic practices of narration, dialogue and response underlying the model. Two cycles of NDR interventions on the identity issues of “happiness” and “relations” were implemented. An IPA study was conducted to explore how the implementation of the NDR-model of literature education affected participants’ learning outcomes (self-understanding and understanding of the other). Qualitative analysis of interview and artefact data suggested that NDR students experienced insight into the self and the other because they were stimulated to engage with literary texts in the context of their personal identities.

Turning to Narrative

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brian Schiff
Keyword(s):  
Meaning Making ◽  
Psychological Research ◽  
Psychological Problems ◽  
The Self ◽  
Narrative Psychology ◽  
Narrative Perspective ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Moment ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Insight Into

Chapter 3 of A New Narrative for Psychology introduces a theoretical framework for a narrative perspective that inspires creative approaches to studying psychological problems. It begins with a history of the “narrative turn” in psychology and outlines the current divisions. Since the 1980s, psychological research calling itself “narrative” has blossomed. However, at the moment, narrative psychology is fragmented, with no clear definition of what narrative is or does. This chapter addresses the definitional problems posed by the current use of the narrative concept in psychology, arguing that narrative psychology is not just a theory or a method but, rather, must encompass both. It reorients narrative psychology to meaning making, the study of how and why persons enact aspects of their lives in time and space. Narrative offers researchers insight into the fundamental psychological problems of how persons interpret the self and experience.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document