Oriental studies is the academic field of study that embraces
Near EastNear East today is an ambiguous term that covers different countries for archeologists and historians, on one hand, and for political scientists, economists, and journalists, on the other...
ern and
Far EastThe Far East is a term used in English mostly equivalent to East Asia and Southeast Asia, sometimes to the inclusion of South Asia for economic and cultural reasons."Far East" came into use in European geopolitical discourse in...
ern societies and cultures, languages, peoples, history and archaeology; in recent years the term
Asian studiesAsian studies, a term that has largely replaced the older Oriental studies, is concerned with the Asian peoples, their cultures, languages, history and politics. Within the Asian sphere, Asian studies combines aspects of sociology, history, cultural anthropology and many other disciplines to study...
has mostly replaced the older term. European study of the region had primarily religious origins, which has remained an important motivation until recent times. Learning from Arabic medicine and philosophy, and the Arabic translations from Greek, was an important factor in the Middle Ages. Linguistic knowledge preceded a wider study of cultures and history, and as Europe began to encroach upon the region, political and economic factors encouraged growth in academic study. From the late 18th century archaeology became a link from the discipline to a wide European public, as treasures brought back filled new European museums. The modern study was influenced both by Imperialist attitudes and interests, and also the sometimes naive fascination of the exotic East for Mediterranean and European writers and thinkers, captured in images by artists, that is embodied in a repeatedly-surfacing theme in the
history of ideasThe history of ideas is a field of research in history that deals with the expression, preservation, and change of human ideas over time. The history of ideas is a sister-discipline to, or a particular approach within, intellectual history...
in the West, called "
OrientalismOrientalism is the imitation or depiction of aspects of Eastern cultures in the West by writers, designers and artists. An "Orientalist" may be a person engaged in these activities, but it is also the traditional term for any scholar of Oriental studies...
". In the last century, scholars from the region itself have participated on equal terms in the discipline, transforming it.
Pre-Islam
The Western world's original distinction between the "West" and the "East" was crystallised in the
Greco-Persian WarsFor other Persian wars, see Roman-Persian Wars, Arab-Persian Wars, Persian Gulf Wars, and Military history of Iran.The Greco-Persian Wars , were a series of conflicts between the Persian Empire and city-states of the Hellenic world that started in 499 BC and lasted until 450 BC...
of the fifth century BC, when
AthenAthen may refer to:* Athens, capital of Greece - Athen in German, Norwegian, and Danish* The Athen, German ship that was in the Bay of Lübeck during the sinking of the Cap Arcona. All 1,998 prisoners aboard the Athen survived- See also :...
ian historians made a distinction between their "
Athenian democracyAthenian democracy was developed in the Greek city-state of Athens, comprising the central city-state of Athens and the surrounding territory of Attica, around 500 BC. Athens was one of the very first known democracies...
" and that of the Persian monarchy. An institutional distinction between East and West did not exist as a defined polarity before the
Oriens- and
Occidens-divided administration of the Emperor
DiocletianGaius Aurelius Valerius Diocletianus , born Diocles and commonly known as Diocletian , was Roman Emperor from 20 November 284 to 1 May 305. Born to a Dalmatian family of low status, he rose through the ranks of the military to become cavalry commander to the emperor Carus...
's
Roman EmpireThe Roman Empire was the post-Republican phase of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean. The term is used to describe the Roman state during and after the time of the first emperor,...
at the end of the third century AD, and the division of the Empire into
LatinLatin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. Through the Roman conquest, Latin spread throughout the Mediterranean and a large part of Europe...
and
GreekGreek , an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages, is the language of the Greeks. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. In its ancient form, it is the language of classical...
-speaking portions. The classical world had initimate knowledge of their Ancient Persian neighbours (and usually enemies), but very
impreciseSino-Roman relations started first on an indirect basis during the 2nd century BCE. China and Rome progressively inched closer with the embassies of Zhang Qian in 130 BCE and the military expeditions of China to Central Asia, until general Ban Chao attempted to send an envoy to Rome in 97 CE....
knowledge of most of the world further East, including the "
SeresSeres was the ancient Greek and Roman name for the inhabitants of the northwestern part of modern China,...
" (Chinese). However there was substantial direct
Roman trade with IndiaRoman trade with India through the overland caravan routes via Anatolia and Persia, though at a relative trickle comparative to later times, antedated the southern trade route via the Red Sea and Monsoons which started around the beginning of the Common Era following the reign of Augustus and his...
(unlike with China) in the Imperial period.
Middle Ages
The
rise of IslamThe Spread of Islam started shortly after the death of the Islamic prophet Muhammad in 632. Trade networks connected many regions which helped the spread of Islam. During his lifetime, the community of Muslims, the ummah, was established in the Arabian Peninsula by means of conversion to Islam...
and
Muslim conquestsMuslim conquests , also referred to as the Islamic conquests or Arab conquests, began after the death of the Islamic prophet Muhammad...
in the seventh century established a sharp opposition, or even a sense of polarity, between medieval European
ChristendomChristendom, or the Christian world, has several meanings. In a cultural sense it refers to the worldwide community of Christians, adherents of Christianity. This community numbers in the billions of people of the world population. This community is spread across many different nations and ethnic...
and the
medieval Islamic worldThe Islamic Golden Age or the Islamic Renaissance, is traditionally dated from the 9th to 13th centuries for 400 years C.E., but has been extended to the 15th century by recent scholarship...
(which stretched from the
Middle EastThe Middle East is a region that spans southwestern Asia, southeastern Europe, and northeastern Africa. It has no clear boundaries, often used as a synonym to Near East, in opposition to Far East...
and
Central AsiaAsia is a region of Asia from the Caspian Sea in the west to central China in the east, and from southern Russia in the north to northern India in the south. It is also sometimes known as Middle Asia or Inner Asia, and is within the scope of the wider Eurasian continent.Various definitions of its...
to
North AfricaNorth Africa or Northern Africa is the northernmost region of the African continent, linked by the Sahara to Sub-Saharan Africa.Geopolitically, the UN definition of Northern Africa includes the following seven countries or territories; Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, Sudan, Tunisia,Mauritania, and...
and
AndalusiaAl-Andalus was the Arabic name given to the parts of the Iberian Peninsula and Septimania governed by Arab and North African Muslims , at various times in the period between 711 and 1492....
). During the
Middle AgesThe Middle Ages of European history is a period of European history covering roughly a millennium in the 5th century through 16th centuries. More specific starting and ending points are sometimes adopted by scholars to suit their respective specializations or current focus...
,
Muslim:A Muslim , , is an adherent of the religion of Islam. The feminine form is Muslimah . Literally, the word means "one who submits ". Muslim is the participle of the same verb of which Islam is the infinitive. Muslims believe that there is only one God, translated in Arabic as Allah...
s were considered the "alien" enemies of Christendom. Popular medieval European knowledge of cultures farther to the East was poor, dependent on the wildly fictionalised travels of Sir
John Mandeville"Jehan de Mandeville", translated as "Sir John Mandeville", is the name claimed by the compiler of a singular book of supposed travels, written in Anglo-Norman French, and published between 1357 and 1371....
and legends of
Prester JohnThe legends of Prester John , popular in Europe from the 12th through the 17th centuries, told of a Christian patriarch and king said to rule over a Christian nation lost amidst the Muslims and pagans in the Orient. Written accounts of this kingdom are variegated collections of medieval popular...
, although the equally famous, and much longer, account by
Marco PoloMarco Polo was a merchant from the Venetian Republic who wrote Il Milione, which introduced Europeans to Central Asia and China. He learned about trading whilst his father and uncle, Niccolò and Maffeo, voyaged through Asia and met Kublai Khan. In 1269, they returned to Venice to meet Marco for...
was a good deal more accurate.
Scholarly work was initially very largely linguistic in nature, with primarily a religious focus on understanding both
Biblical HebrewBiblical Hebrew, also called Classical Hebrew, is an archaic form of the Hebrew language in which the Hebrew Bible and various Israelite inscriptions were written....
and languages like Syriac with early Christian literature, but also from a wish to understand Greek and
ArabicArabic is a Central Semitic language, thus related to and classified alongside other Semitic languages such as Hebrew and the Neo-Aramaic languages. In terms of speakers, the Arabic macrolanguage is the largest member of the Semitic language family. It is spoken by more than 280 million people as...
works on
medicineIn the history of medicine, Islamic medicine or Arabic medicine refers to medicine developed in the medieval Islamic civilization and written in Arabic, the lingua franca of the Islamic civilization. Despite these names, a significant number of scientists during this period were not Arab...
,
philosophyEarly Islamic philosophy or classical Islamic philosophy is a period of intense philosophical development beginning in the 2nd century AH of the Islamic calendar and lasting until the 6th century AH...
and
scienceScience in medieval Islam, also known as Islamic science, is a term used in the history of science to refer to the science developed in the Islamic world between the 7th and 16th centuries, a period also known as the Islamic Golden Age. Scientists from the region were also known to develop many...
. This effort existed sporadically throughout the Middle Ages, and the "
Renaissance of the 12th centuryThe Renaissance of the 12th century was a period of many changes during the High Middle Ages. It included social, political and economic transformations, and an intellectual revitalization of Europe with strong philosophical and scientific roots...
" witnessed a particular growth in translations of Arabic texts into Latin, with figures like
Constantine the AfricanConstantine the African was an eleventh-century translator of Greek and Islamic medical texts.-Life:...
, who translated 37 books, mostly medical texts, from Arabic to Latin, and
Herman of CarinthiaHerman of Carinthia or Herman Dalmatin was a philosopher, astronomer, astrologer, mathematician, translator and author....
, one of the translators of the
Qur'anThe Qur’an is the central religious text of Islam...
. The
earliest translationLex Mahumet pseudoprophete is the translation of the Qur'an into Latin by Robert of Ketton ....
of the Qur'an into
LatinLatin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. Through the Roman conquest, Latin spread throughout the Mediterranean and a large part of Europe...
was completed in 1143, although little use was made of it until it was printed in 1543, after which it was translated into other European languages.
Gerard of CremonaGerard of Cremona , was a Lombard translator of Arabic scientific works found in the abandoned Arab libraries of Toledo, Spain....
and others based themselves in Al-Andaluz to take advantage of the Arabic libraries and scholars there. Later, with the Christian
ReconquistaThe Reconquista was a period of 800 years in the Middle Ages during which several Christian kingdoms of the Iberian Peninsula succeeded in retaking the Iberian Peninsula from the Muslims...
in full progress, such contacts became rarer in Spain.
There was
vague but increasingThis article attempts to list every significant event in the history of the European exploration of Asia. It proposes a chronological inventory of these events including every people involved and the places they helped to demystify ....
knowledge of the complex civilizations in
ChinaChina is a cultural region, an ancient civilization, and, depending on perspective, a national or multinational entity extending over a large area in East Asia....
and
IndiaThe known history of India - the name in this context includes the areas now known as India, Pakistan and Bangladesh - begins with the Indus Valley Civilization, which spread and flourished in the north-western part of the Indian subcontinent, from c. 3300 to 1300 BCE. Its Mature Harappan period...
, from which luxury goods (notably
cottonCotton is a soft, staple fiber that grows in a form known as a boll around the seeds of the cotton plant, a shrub native to tropical and subtropical regions around the world, including the Americas, India and Africa. The fiber most often is spun into yarn or thread and used to make a soft,...
and
silkSilk is a natural protein fiber, some forms of which can be woven into textiles. The best-known type of silk is obtained from cocoons made by the larvae of the mulberry silkworm Bombyx mori reared in captivity...
textiles as well as
ceramicsIn art history, ceramics and ceramic art mean art objects such as figures, tiles, and tableware made from clay and other raw materials by the process of pottery, so excluding glass and also mosaic, normally made from glass tesserae...
) were imported. Although the
CrusadesThe Crusades were a series of religiously-sanctioned military campaigns waged by much of Latin Christian Europe, particularly the Franks of France and the Holy Roman Empire. The specific crusades to restore Christian control of the Holy Land were fought over a period of nearly 200 years, between...
produced relatively little in the way of scholarly interchange, the eruption of the
Mongol EmpireThe Mongol Empire was an empire from the 13th and 14th century spanning from Eastern Europe across Asia. It is the largest contiguous empire in the history of the world...
had strategic implications for both the Crusader kingdoms and Europe itself, and led to
extended diplomatic contactsMany attempts were made towards forming a Franco-Mongol alliance between the mid-13th and early 14th centuries, starting around the time of the Seventh Crusade. Historians note that in hindsight an alliance between the Mongols and the "Franks" often appears a logical choice...
. From the Age of Exploration, European interest in
mapping Asia- Antiquity :Babylon in Southwest Asia is at the center of the very earliest world maps, beginning with the Babylonian world map in the 6th century BC; it is a clay tablet 'localized' world map of Babylon, rivers, encircling ocean, and terrain, surrounded by 'islands' in a 7-star format. In...
, and especially the sea-routes, became intense, though mostly pursued outside the universities. As European exploration and
colonisationColonization, , occurs whenever any one or more species populate an area. The term, which is derived from the Latin colere, "to inhabit, cultivate, frequent, practice, tend, guard, respect," originally related to humans...
occurred, the distinction between illiterate peoples (i.e. in
sub-Saharan AfricaSub-Saharan Africa is a geographical term used to describe the area of the African continent which lies south of the Sahara, or those African countries which are fully or partially located south of the Sahara...
and the
AmericasThe Americas, or America, are lands in the Western hemisphere or New World, comprising the continents of North America and South America with their associated islands and regions. America may be ambiguous in English, as it is more commonly used to refer to the United States of America...
) and the literate cultures of the East became entrenched.
Renaissance to 1800
University Oriental studies became systematic during the Renaissance, with the linguistic and religious aspects initially continuing to dominate. There was also a political dimension, as translations for diplomatic purposes were needed, even before the West engaged actively with the East beyond the
Ottoman EmpireThe Ottoman Empire or Ottoman State , also known by its contemporaries as the Turkish Empire or Turkey , was an empire that lasted from 1299 to November 1, 1922 The Ottoman Empire or Ottoman State (Ottoman Turkish: دَوْلَتِ عَلِیَّهِ عُثْمَانِیَّه Dawlet-il ʿAliyyat-il ʿOs̠māniyye, Modern Turkish:...
. A landmark was the publication in Spain in 1514 of the first
Polyglot BibleThe Complutensian Polyglot Bible is the name given to the first printed polyglot of the entire Bible, initiated and financed by Cardinal Francisco Jiménez de Cisneros . It includes the first printed editions of the Greek New Testament, the complete Septuagint, and the Targum Onkelos...
, containing the complete existing texts in Hebrew and Aramaic, as well as Greek and Latin. At Cambridge University there has been a
Regius Professor of HebrewThe Regius Professorship of Hebrew, founded by Henry VIII, is a professorship at both Cambridge and Oxford Universities.- List of Regius Professors of Hebrew at Cambridge :...
since 1540 (the fifth oldest regular chair there), and the
chair in ArabicThe Sir Thomas Adams's Professorship of Arabic was the senior professorship in Arabic at the University of Cambridge.One of the oldest professorships in Cambridge, the chair was founded by Sir Thomas Adams in 1643, with the stipend paid by the Drapers' Company.- Sir Thomas Adams Professors :*...
was founded in about 1643. Oxford followed for Hebrew in 1546 (both chairs were established by Henry VIII). Distinguished scholars included
Edmund CastellEdmund Castell was an English orientalist.He was born at Tadlow, in Cambridgeshire. At the age of fifteen he entered Emmanuel College, Cambridge, gaining his BA in 1624-5 and his MA in 1628. Appointed Professor of Arabic in 1666, he moved to St John's in 1671, because of the valuable library there...
, who published his
Lexicon Heptaglotton Hebraicum, Chaldaicum, Syriacum, Samaritanum, Aethiopicum, Arabicum, et Persicum in 1669, whilst some scholars like
Edward PocockeEdward Pococke was an English Orientalist and biblical scholar.-Early life:He was the son of clergyman from Chieveley in Berkshire, and was educated at Lord Williams's School of Thame in Oxfordshire and at Corpus Christi College, Oxford...
had travelled to the East and wrote also on the modern history and society of Eastern peoples. The
University of SalamancaThe University of Salamanca , located in the town of Salamanca, west of Madrid, is the oldest university in Spain , and one of the oldest in Europe. It was founded by Alfonso IX of León in 1218 as a "General School"...
had Professors of Oriental Languages from at least the 1570s. In France,
ColbertColbert is a common surname and rare given name of Old French and Old German origins; it was introduced to Britain by the Normans.Colbert most commonly refers to:*Jean-Baptiste Colbert , French minister of finance under King Louis XIV...
initiated a training programme for "Les Jeunes de langues", young linguists with the diplomatic service, like
François Pétis de la CroixFrançois Pétis de la Croix was a French orientalist.He was born in Paris, the son of the Arabic interpreter of the French court, and inherited this office at his father's death in 1695, afterwards transmitting it to his own son, Alexandre Louis Marie, who also distinguished himself in Oriental...
, who like his father and his son served as Arabic interpreter to the King. Study of the
Far EastThe Far East is a term used in English mostly equivalent to East Asia and Southeast Asia, sometimes to the inclusion of South Asia for economic and cultural reasons."Far East" came into use in European geopolitical discourse in...
was pioneered by missionaries, especially
Matteo RicciMatteo Ricci, SJ was an Italian Jesuit priest, and one of the founding figures of the Jesuit China Mission, as it existed in the 17th-18th centuries.-Early life:...
and others in the
Jesuit China missionsThe history of the missions of the Jesuits in China in the early modern era stands as one of the notable events in the early history of relations between China and the Western world, as well as a prominent example of relations between two cultures and belief systems in the pre-modern age...
, and missionary motives were to remain important, at least in linguistic studies.
During the eighteenth century Western scholars reached a reasonable basic level of understanding of the geography and most of the history of the region, though knowledge of the areas least accessible to Western travellers, like
Japanis an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, People's Republic of China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
and
TibetTibet is a plateau region in Asia, north of the Himalayas. It is home to the indigenous Tibetan people, and to some other ethnic groups such as Monpas and Lhobas, and is now also inhabited by considerable numbers of Han Chinese people. Tibet is the highest region on earth, with an average...
, and their languages, remained limited.
EnlightenmentThe Age of Enlightenment, or simply The Enlightenment, is a term used to describe a time in Western philosophy and cultural life, centered upon the eighteenth century, in which reason was advocated as the primary source and legitimacy for authority....
thinkers characterised aspects of the pagan East as superior to the Christian West, in Montesquieu's
Lettres Persanes or
VoltaireFrançois-Marie Arouet , better known by the pen name Voltaire, was a French Enlightenment writer, essayist, and philosopher known for his wit and his defense of civil liberties, including both freedom of religion and free trade.Voltaire was a prolific writer and produced works in almost every...
's ironic promotion of
ZoroastrianismZoroastrianism is the religion and philosophy based on the teachings ascribed to the prophet Zoroaster , after whom the religion is named. The term Zoroastrianism is, in general usage, essentially synonymous with Mazdaism, i.e...
; others, like
Edward GibbonEdward Gibbon was an English historian and Member of Parliament. His most important work, The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, was published in six volumes between 1776 and 1788...
, praised the relative religious tolerance of the Islamic East as opposed to the intolerant Christian West, and many, including Diderot and
VoltaireFrançois-Marie Arouet , better known by the pen name Voltaire, was a French Enlightenment writer, essayist, and philosopher known for his wit and his defense of civil liberties, including both freedom of religion and free trade.Voltaire was a prolific writer and produced works in almost every...
, the high social status of scholarship in
MandarinA Mandarin was a bureaucrat in imperial China, and also in the monarchist days of Vietnam where the system of Imperial examinations and scholar-bureaucrats was adopted under Chinese influence....
China.
The end of the century saw the beginnings in the great increase in study of the
archaeologyArchaeology or archeology is the science that studies human cultures through the recovery, documentation, analysis, and interpretation of material culture and environmental data, including architecture, artifacts, biofacts, and landscapes...
of the period, which was to be an ever-more important aspect of the field through the next century.
EgyptologyEgyptology Egyptology Egyptology (from Egypt and Greek , -logia. , is a major field of archaeology, the study of ancient Egyptian history, language, literature, religion, and art from the 5th millennium BC until the end of its native religious practices in the AD 4th century...
led the way, and as with many other ancient cultures, provided the linguists with new material for decypherment and study.
Nineteenth century
With a great increase in knowledge of Asia among Western specialists, increasing political and economic involvement in the region, and in particular the realisation of the existence of
close relations between Indian and European languagesThe Indo-European languages are a family of several hundred related languages and dialects, including most major languages of Europe, Iran, and northern India, and historically also predominant in Anatolia and Central Asia...
, by
William JonesSir William Jones was an English philologist and scholar of ancient India, particularly known for his proposition of the existence of a relationship among Indo-European languages...
, there emerged more complex intellectual connections between the early history of Eastern and Western cultures. Some of these developments occurred in the context of Franco–British rivalry for control of India. Liberal economists, such as
James MillJames Mill was a Scottish historian, economist, political theorist, and philosopher. He was the father of influential philosopher of classical liberalism, John Stuart Mill.-Life:...
, denigrated Eastern civilizations as static and corrupt.
Karl MarxKarl Heinrich Marx was a Germanphilosopher, political economist, historian, political theorist, sociologist, communist and revolutionary, whose ideas are credited as the foundation of modern communism...
characterised the
Asiatic mode of productionThe theory of the Asiatic mode of production was devised by Karl Marx around the early 1850’s. The essence of the theory has been described as "[the] suggestion .....
as unchanging, because of the economic narrowness of village economies and the State's role in production.
Oriental despotismOriental despotism is a term used to describe a despotic form of government that opposes the western tradition. Historically, the term's meaning has varied and today it is hardly ever used at all, largely because of all the issues surrounding the concept of orientalism.- Origins in Ancient Greece...
was generally regarded in Europe as a major factor in the relative failure ro
progressProgress indicates generally forward moving and may refer to:-Science:*Progress , a main object of philosophy of history...
of Eastern societies. The study of Islam was central to the field since the majority of people living in the geographical area termed 'the Orient' were Muslims. Interest in understanding Islam was partly fuelled by economic considerations of growing trade in the Mediterranean region and the changing cultural and intellectual climate of the time.
In the course of the century Western archaeology spread across the Middle East and Asia, with spectacular results. The new national museums provided a setting for the finds, most of which were in this period bought back to Europe, and put Orientalists in the public spotlight as never before.
The first, serious European studies of
BuddhismBuddhism, as traditionally conceived, is a path of salvation attained through insight into the ultimate nature of reality. It encompasses a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha...
and
HinduismHinduism is the predominant religion of the Indian subcontinent. Hinduism is often referred to as ', a Sanskrit phrase meaning "the eternal law", by its adherents. Generic "types" of Hinduism that attempt to accommodate a variety of complex views span folk and Vedic Hinduism to bhakti tradition, as...
were by scholars
Eugene BurnoufEugène Burnouf was an eminent French scholar and orientalist who made significant contributions to the deciphering of Old Persian cuneiform....
and
Max MüllerFriedrich Max Müller , more commonly known as Max Müller, was a German philologist and Orientalist, one of the founders of the western academic field of Indian studies and the discipline of comparative religion...
. In that time, the academic study of Islam also developed, and, by the mid-nineteenth century, Oriental Studies was a well-established academic discipline in most European counties, especially those with imperial interests in the region. Yet, while scholastic study expanded, so did
racistRacism is the belief that race is the primary determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular race. In the case of institutional racism, certain racial groups may be denied rights or benefits, or get preferential treatment...
attitudes and stereotypes of "inscrutable", "wily" Orientals. Scholarship often was intertwined with prejudicial racist and religious presumptions, to which the new
biological sciencesBiology is the natural science concerned with the study of life and living organisms, including their structure, function, growth, origin, evolution, distribution, and taxonomy...
tended to contribute until the middle of the following century.
Twentieth century
The participation in academic studies by scholars from the newly-independent nations of the region itself inevitably changed the nature of studies considerably, with the emergence of post-colonial studies and
Subaltern StudiesThe Subaltern Studies Group or Subaltern Studies Collective are a group of South Asian scholars interested in the postcolonial and post-imperial societies of South Asia in particular and the developing world in general. The term Subaltern Studies is sometimes also applied more broadly to others...
. The influence of
OrientalismOrientalism is the imitation or depiction of aspects of Eastern cultures in the West by writers, designers and artists. An "Orientalist" may be a person engaged in these activities, but it is also the traditional term for any scholar of Oriental studies...
(in the sense used by Edward Said in his
book of the same nameOrientalism is the 1978 book by Edward Said that has been highly influential in postcolonial studies.In the book, Said says that orientalism, especially the academic study of, and discourse, political and literary, about the Arabs, Islam, and the Middle East that primarily originated in...
) in scholarship on the Middle East was seen to have re-emerged and risen in prevalence again after the end of the Cold War. It is contended that this was partly a response to "a lacuna" in identity politics in international relations generally, and within the 'West' particularly, which was brought about by the absence of Soviet communism as a global adversary. The post-Cold War era has been marked by discussions of Islamist terrorism framing views on the extent to which the culture of the Middle East region and Islam, its predominant religion, poses a threat to that of the West. The essence of this debate reflects a presupposition for which Orientalism has been criticised - that the 'Orient' is defined by Islam. Such considerations as these were seen to have occurred in the wider context of the way in which many Western scholars responded to international politics in the post-Cold War world; and they were arguably heightened following the terrorist attacks of September 11th 2001.
Symbolic of this type of response to the end of the
Cold WarThe Cold War was the continuing state of political conflict, military tension, and economic competition existing after World War II , primarily between the USSR and its satellite states, and the powers of the Western world, including the United States...
was the popularisation of the 'clash of civilisations' thesis. This particular idea of a fundamental conflict between East and West was first advanced by
Bernard LewisBernard Lewis, FBA is a British-American historian, Orientalist, and political commentator. He is the Cleveland E. Dodge Professor Emeritus of Near Eastern Studies at Princeton University...
in an article entitled "The Roots of Muslim Rage", written in 1990. Again, this was seen as a way of accounting for new forms and lines of division in post-Cold War international society. The 'clash of civilisations' approach involved another characteristic of Orientalist thought; namely, the tendency to see the region as being one, homogenous 'civilisation', rather than as comprising various different and diverse cultures and strands. It was an idea that was taken on more famously by
Samuel HuntingtonSamuel Huntington may refer to:* Samuel Huntington , American jurist, statesman, and revolutionary leader* Samuel H. Huntington American jurist* Samuel P. Huntington , American political scientist...
in his 1993 article in
Foreign AffairsForeign Affairs is an American magazine on international relations and U.S. foreign policy published by the Council on Foreign Relations six times annually...
, called "The Clash of Civilisations?".
"Orientalism" and Oriental studies
The term
Orientalism has come to acquire negative connotations in some quarters and is interpreted to refer to the study of the East by Westerners shaped by the attitudes of the era of European
imperialismImperialism, as defined by the dictionary of human geography, is “the creation and maintenance of an unequal economic, cultural and territorial relationship, usually between states and often in the form of an empire, based on domination and subordination.” Imperialism, in many ways, is described...
in the 18th and 19th centuries. When used in this sense, it often implies prejudiced, outsider-caricatured interpretations of Eastern cultures and peoples. This viewpoint was most famously articulated and propagated by
Edward SaidEdward Wadie Saïd was a Palestinian American literary theorist, cultural critic, and an advocate for Palestinian rights. He was University Professor of English and Comparative Literature at Columbia University and a founding figure in postcolonialism...
in
OrientalismOrientalism is the 1978 book by Edward Said that has been highly influential in postcolonial studies.In the book, Said says that orientalism, especially the academic study of, and discourse, political and literary, about the Arabs, Islam, and the Middle East that primarily originated in...
(1978), a critical history of this scholarly tradition. In contrast, the term has also been used by some modern scholars to refer to writers of the Imperialist era who had pro-Eastern attitudes, as opposed to those who saw nothing of value in non-Western cultures.
From "Oriental Studies" to "Asian Studies"
Like the term
OrientThe Orient is a term which means "the East". It is a traditional designation for anything belonging to the Orient or Far East. In English it is a metonym describing Eastern Asia. It was also used to indicate the eastern direction in historical astronomy as the adjective Oriental.- Derivation :The...
,
Orientalism derives from the Latin word
oriens (rising) and, equally likely, from the Greek word ('he'oros', the direction of the rising sun). "Orient" is the opposite of
Occident. In terms of The
Old WorldThe Old World consists of those parts of Earth known to Europeans, Asians, and Africans in the 15th century.-Regions:The Old World includes Europe, Asia, and Africa , plus surrounding islands...
,
EuropeEurope is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally divided from Asia to its east by the water divide of the Ural Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian Sea, the Caucasus Mountains , and the Black Sea to the southeast...
was considered The Occident (The West), and its farthest-known extreme
The OrientThe Orient is a term which means "the East". It is a traditional designation for anything belonging to the Orient or Far East. In English it is a metonym describing Eastern Asia. It was also used to indicate the eastern direction in historical astronomy as the adjective Oriental.- Derivation :The...
(The East). Dating from the Roman Empire until the Middle Ages, what is now, in the West, considered 'the
Middle EastThe Middle East is a region that spans southwestern Asia, southeastern Europe, and northeastern Africa. It has no clear boundaries, often used as a synonym to Near East, in opposition to Far East...
' was then considered 'the Orient'. However, use of the various terms and senses derived from "Orient" has greatly declined in the twentieth century, not least as trans-Pacific links between Asia and America have grown; nowadays, Asia usually arrives at the USA from the West.
In most
North AmericaNorth America is the northern continent of the Americas, situated in the Earth's northern hemisphere and in the western hemisphere. It is bordered on the north by the Arctic Ocean, on the east by the North Atlantic Ocean, on the southeast by the Caribbean Sea, and on the west by the North Pacific...
n universities, Oriental Studies has now been replaced by
Asian StudiesAsian studies, a term that has largely replaced the older Oriental studies, is concerned with the Asian peoples, their cultures, languages, history and politics. Within the Asian sphere, Asian studies combines aspects of sociology, history, cultural anthropology and many other disciplines to study...
localised to specific regions, such as,
Middle EastThe Middle East is a region that spans southwestern Asia, southeastern Europe, and northeastern Africa. It has no clear boundaries, often used as a synonym to Near East, in opposition to Far East...
ern or Near Eastern Studies,
South AsiaSouth Asia, also known as Southern Asia, is the southern region of the Asian continent, which comprises the sub-Himalayan countries and, for some authorities , also includes the adjoining countries on the west and the east...
n studies, and
East AsiaEast Asia or Eastern Asia is a subregion of Asia that can be defined in either geographical or cultural terms. Geographically and geo-politically, it covers about , or about 28 percent of the Asian continent, about 15 percent bigger than the area of Europe, though some categorize Tibet, Xinjiang,...
n Studies. This reflects the fact that the Orient is not a single, monolithic region but rather a broad area encompassing multiple civilisations. The generic concept of Oriental Studies, to its opponents, has lost any use it may have once had and is perceived as obstructing changes in departmental structures to reflect actual patterns of modern scholarship. In many universities, like Chicago, the faculties and institutions have divided; the Biblical languages may be linked with theological institutes, and the study of ancient civilisations in the region may come under a different faculty to studies of modern periods.
In 2007 the Faculty of Oriental Studies at Cambridge University was renamed the Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, but Oxford still has its
Faculty for Oriental StudiesThe Oriental Institute of the University of Oxford, England, is home to the University's Faculty of Oriental Studies. It is engaged in research and teaching of a wide range of disciplines covering modern and historical Asian languages and culture...
, as do
ChicagoThe Oriental Institute , established in 1919, is the University of Chicago's archeology museum and research center for ancient Near Eastern studies....
,
RomeThe Pontifical Oriental Institute is the premier center for the study of Eastern Christianity in Rome, Italy....
,
LondonThe School of Oriental and African Studies is a constituent college of the University of London, specialising in languages, humanities, economics, law and politics concerning Asia, Africa and the Middle East...
(covering African studies also), and
other universitiesOriental Institute may refer to a number of institutes of Oriental studies:United States* Oriental Institute, Chicago, part of the University of ChicagoEngland* Oriental Institute, Oxford, part of the University of Oxford...
.
Various explanations for the change to "Asian studies" are offered; a growing number of professional scholars and students of Asian Studies are themselves Asian or from groups of Asian origin (like
Asian American{Infobox Ethnic group|group = Asian American|image =Graduation Rate! align="CENTER" | Bachelor's Degree
or More|-| align="LEFT" | Asian Indians| align="RIGHT" | 90.2%| align="RIGHT" | 67.9%|-| align="LEFT" | Filipinos| align="RIGHT" | 90.8%...
s). This change of labelling may be correlated in some cases to the fact that sensitivity to the term "Oriental" has been heightened in a more
politically correctPolitically Correct may refer to:*Political correctness, language, ideas, policies, or behaviour seeking to minimize offence to groups of people-See also:*Politically Correct Bedtime Stories, book by James Finn Garner, published in 1994...
atmosphere, although it began earlier: Bernard Lewis' own department at
Princeton UniversityPrinceton University a private university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League and is considered one of the Colonial Colleges....
was renamed a decade
before Said wrote his book, a detail that Said gets wrong. By some, the term "Oriental" has come to be thought offensive to non-Westerners.
Area studiesArea studies are interdisciplinary fields of research and scholarship pertaining to particular geographical, national/federal, or cultural regions. The term exists primarily as a general description for what are, in the practice of scholarship, many heterogeneous fields of research, encompassing...
that incorporate not only philological pursuits but
identity politicsIdentity politics refers to political arguments that focus upon the self interest and perspectives of social minorities, or self-identified social interest groups. Not all members of any given group are necessarily involved in identity politics....
may also account for the hestitation to use the term "Oriental".
Supporters of "Oriental Studies" counter that the term "Asian" is just as encompassing as "Oriental," and may well have originally had the same meaning, were it derived from an
AkkadianAkkadian is an extinct Semitic language that was spoken in ancient Mesopotamia. The earliest attested Semitic language, it used the cuneiform writing system derived ultimately from ancient Sumerian, an unrelated language isolate...
word for "East" (a more common derivation is from one or both of two Anatolian proper names.). Replacing one word with another is to confuse historically objectional
opinions about the East with the concept of "the East" itself. The terms Oriental/Eastern and Occidental/Western are both inclusive concepts that usefully identify large-scale cultural differences. Such general concepts do not preclude or deny more specific ones.
See also
- Europeans in Medieval China
Numerous Europeans are known to have been in Medieval China during the second half of the 13th century and the first half of the 14th century , at a time when the Mongol Empire ruled over a large part of Eurasia and connected Europe with their Chinese dominion of the Yuan Dynasty. Initially,...
- Medieval Roman Catholic Missions in China
The second major thrust of Christianity into China occurred during the thirteenth century. The Mongols, under the leadership of Genghis Khan, began reaching outward from Central Asia, invading neighbouring countries and incorporating them into an empire that at its height included northern China...
- Arabist
This is an article about the western scholars known as Arabists, not the political movement Pan-Arabism.An Arabist is someone who specialises in the study of the Arabic language and Arab culture, and often Arabic literature...
- Area studies
Area studies are interdisciplinary fields of research and scholarship pertaining to particular geographical, national/federal, or cultural regions. The term exists primarily as a general description for what are, in the practice of scholarship, many heterogeneous fields of research, encompassing...
- Assyriology
Assyriology is the archaeological, historical, and linguistic study of ancient Mesopotamia and the related cultures that used cuneiform writing. The field covers not just Assyria but also that nation's eventual conqueror, Babylonia, together with the predecessor of both civilizations, Sumer...
- Egyptology
Egyptology Egyptology Egyptology (from Egypt and Greek , -logia. , is a major field of archaeology, the study of ancient Egyptian history, language, literature, religion, and art from the 5th millennium BC until the end of its native religious practices in the AD 4th century...
- Indology
Indology is the academic study of the languages, texts, history and cultures of the Indian subcontinent , and as such a subset of Asian studies....
(study of India)
- Islamism
Islamism is a set of ideologies holding that Islam is not only a religion but also a political system; that modern Muslims must return to their roots of their religion, and unite politically....
- Iranistics
- Japonism
Japonism, or Japonisme, the original French term, which is also used in English, is a term for the influence of the arts of Japan on those of the West...
- List of Islamic studies scholars
- at section 5. "Orientalists/Non-Muslims" appears an annotated list of over 150 western & eastern non-Muslim scholars, often with titles of their writings on Islam.
- Middle Eastern studies
Middle Eastern studies is a name given to a number of academic programs associated with the study of the culture, politics, economy, and geography of the Middle East, an area that is generally interpreted to cover a range of nations extending from North Africa in the west to the Chinese frontier,...
- Oriental Institute
Oriental Institute may refer to a number of institutes of Oriental studies:United States* Oriental Institute, Chicago, part of the University of ChicagoEngland* Oriental Institute, Oxford, part of the University of Oxford...
- Philology
Philology considers both form and meaning in linguistic expression, combining linguistics and literary studies.Classical philology is the philology of the Greek, Latin and Sanskrit languages...
- Silk Road
The Silk Road is an extensive interconnected network of trade routes across the Asian continent connecting East, South, and Western Asia with the Mediterranean world, as well as North and Northeast Africa and Europe...
- Sinology
Sinology in general use is the study of China and things related to China, but, especially in the American academic context, refers more strictly to the study of classical language and literature, and the philological approach...
(study of China)
- SOAS
The School of Oriental and African Studies is a constituent college of the University of London, specialising in languages, humanities, economics, law and politics concerning Asia, Africa and the Middle East...
- Turkology
Turkology is a complex of humanities sciences studying languages, history, literature, folklore, culture, and ethnology of people speaking Turkic languages and Turkic peoples in chronological and comparative context...
Institutions
- Asiatica Association
- SOAS: The School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London
Based primarily in London, England, United Kingdom, the University of London is a federal mega university made up of 31 affiliates: 19 separate university institutions, and 12 research institutes...
- Faculty of Oriental Studies at the University of Oxford
The University of Oxford , located in the UK city of Oxford, is the oldest surviving university in the English-speaking world and is regarded as one of the world's leading academic institutions. Although the exact date of foundation remains unclear, there is evidence of teaching there as far back...
- Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago
The University of Chicago is a private, coeducational research university in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was founded by oil magnate and benefactor John D...
- American Center for Oriental Research
- American Oriental Society
- Oriental Club of Philadelphia
- Institute of Oriental Manuscripts of the Russian Academy of Sciences
The Russian Academy of Sciences consists of the national academy of Russia and a network of scientific research institutes from across the Russian Federation as well as auxiliary scientific and social units like libraries, publishers and hospitals.Headquartered in Moscow, the Academy is...
- The Institute of Oriental Culture at the Tokyo University
- Institute for Research in Humanities at the Kyoto University
, or is a major national university in Kyoto, Japan. It is the second oldest university in Japan, and formerly one of the Imperial Universities of Japan...
- The Toyo Bunko in Tokyo
, officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan and is located on the eastern side of the main island Honshū. The twenty-three special wards of Tokyo, each governed as a city, cover the area that was once the city of Tokyo in the eastern part of the prefecture, totaling over 8 million people....
- School of Oriental Studies at Universidad del Salvador
The Universidad del Salvador is a jesuit university in Buenos Aires, Argentina. In addition to its main Campus, it has instructional and research facilities in Pilar, Buenos Aires; San Miguel, Buenos Aires; Santa Cruz, Misiones; and Bahía Blanca, Buenos Aires...
In ArgentinaArgentina, officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America, constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires. It is the eighth largest country in the world by land area and the largest among Spanish-speaking nations, though Mexico,...
- Oriental Collections at Bulgarian National Library
Articles
Further reading
- Crawley, William. "Sir William Jones: A vision of Orientalism", Asian Affairs, Vol. 27, Issue 2. (Jun. 1996), pp. 163–176.
- Fleming, K.E. "Orientalism, the Balkans, and Balkan Historiography", The American Historical Review, Vol. 105, No. 4. (Oct., 2000), pp. 1218–1233.
- Halliday, Fred. "'Orientalism' and Its Critics", British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies, Vol. 20, No. 2. (1993), pp. 145–163.
- Irwin, Robert. For lust of knowing: The Orientalists and their enemies. London: Penguin/Allen Lane, 2006 (hardcover, ISBN 0-7139-9415-0). As Dangerous Knowledge: Orientalism and Its Discontents. New York: Overlook Press, 2006 (hardcover, ISBN 1-58567-835-X).
- Reviewed by Philip Hensher in The Spectator, January 28, 2006.
- Reviewed by Allan Massie in the Telegraph, February 4, 2006.
- Reviewed by Terry Eagleton in the New Statesman, February 13, 2006.
- Reviewed by Bill Saunders in The Independent, February 26, 2006.
- Reviewed by Noel Malcolm in The Telegraph, February 26, 2006.
- Reviewed by Maya Jasanoff in the London Review of Books, June 8, 2006.
- Reviewed by William Grimes in the New York Times, November 1, 2006.
- Reviewed by Michael Dirda in The Washington Post, November 12, 2006.
- Reviewed by Lawrence Rosen in the Boston Review, January/February 2007.
- Klein, Christina. Cold War Orientalism: Asia in the Middlebrow Imagination, 1945–1961. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2003 (hardcover, ISBN 0-520-22469-8; paperback, ISBN 0-520-23230-5).
- Knight, Nathaniel. "Grigor'ev in Orenburg, 1851–1862: Russian Orientalism in the Service of Empire?", Slavic Review
Slavic Review is a leading international peer-reviewed journal publishing scholarly studies and book reviews in all disciplines concerned with Russia, Central Eurasia, and Eastern and Central Europe...
, Vol. 59, No. 1. (Spring, 2000), pp. 74–100.
- Kontje, Todd. German Orientalisms. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press, 2004 (ISBN 0-472-11392-5).
- Little, Douglas. American Orientalism: The United States and the Middle East Since 1945. Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 2001 (hardcover, ISBN 0-8078-2737-1); 2002 (paperback, ISBN 0-8078-5539-1); London: I.B. Tauris, 2002 (new ed., hardcover, ISBN 1-86064-889-4).
- Murti, Kamakshi P. India: The Seductive and Seduced "Other" of German Orientalism. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2001 (hardcover, ISBN 0-313-30857-8).
- Noble dreams, wicked pleasures: Orientalism in America, 1870–1930 by Holly Edwards (Editor). Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2000 (hardcover, ISBN 0-691-05003-1; paperback, ISBN 0-691-05004-X).