Latest news with #Orientalism
Forbes
17-05-2025
- Politics
- Forbes
Will Donald Trump Change The Middle East?
PARIS, FRANCE - APRIL 10: Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman arrives at Elysee Palace ... More on April 10, 2018 in Paris, France. Crown Prince of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Mohammed bin Salman, is on a three-days official visit to France. (Photo by Stephane Cardinale - Corbis/Corbis via Getty Images) It is likely that many of the people protesting for Palestine in US universities will have read Edward Said's book 'Orientalism', or at least will have an idea who he was. It is also likely that they will have heard of Donald Trump, whose ire at these protesters has led to an unexpected fiscal crackdown on many prominent US universities including Columbia, where Said used to teach (see our recent note 'University Challenge'). In brief, the tack of Orientalism was to criticise the construction of a superior, Westernised view of the Middle East (the term was coined by navigators in the US Navy), that is then internalised by members of the Middle Eastern elite. At this broad level the theory was attractive, but runs into many practical difficulties such as Said's downplaying the role of women, and the failure of many Middle Eastern countries to develop economically and to nurture the kinds of open society that Said liked to live in. As with many facets of the debate around the Middle East, 'Orientalism' has become a badge of honour for many, and a contentious identifier for others, and there is a risk that many people who hold the 'Orientalist' view, have not updated their outlook for say the rise of Al Qaeda in the broad region and the effective domination in the last decade, of Palestinians by Hamas. I doubt that Donald Trump has read 'Orientalism' (I think his speechwriter might have though) but in the light of the Western perspective of the Middle East, his visit to Saudi Arabia was striking in two respects. First, like any clever politician, he confirmed the view that several countries in the region want to have of themselves – 'this great transformation has not come from Western interventionists … giving you lectures on how to live or how to govern your own affairs. No, the gleaming marvels of Riyadh and Abu Dhabi were not created by the so-called 'nation-builders,' 'neo-cons,' or 'liberal non-profits,' …instead, the birth of a modern Middle East has been brought about by the people of the region themselves' To a degree, Trump's view is not correct. The economies of the UAE and KSA were built on Western know-how (see David Mulford's 'Packing for India' for example), and many of the financial institutions at least have mimicked those in the US and UK. Also, a large number of army officers from the region have been trained in imperialist bastions such as Sandhurst. At the same time, the miraculous growth of these countries can be ascribed to local vision and leadership, on a scale only matched by Lee Kuan Yew in Singapore. And, consistent with the 'Orientalism' thesis, many people in the West do not acknowledge the rising institutional role that Abu Dhabi plays in the region, or the extent to which Mohammed bin Saman has become a hero for the youth in his country. In that regard, we might say that the model the Middle Eastern countries have followed is the 'Sinatra Model' ('do it my own way') with a slight American twist. The President's address struck a chord because in the Emirates and the KSA in particular, there is a growing pride and independence in what these countries have achieved economically, and on my last visit there a few months ago, I found that there was little patience on the part of government officials to for example, have EU regulatory standards imposed on joint investment projects. In a note I wrote at the time I flagged how locals had developed their own acronym of the West (W.E.N.A.), surely proof that the ideas in 'Orientalism' are dated. Trump's speech will be a big disappointment for those who believe in institutions and the idea of nation-building, and in that regard will turn on its head the efforts of so many in the State Department and other institutions. Neither does it augur well for current day American institutions. The speech also brings into focus what Prof. Afshin Molavi refers to as the existence of 'two Middle Easts', namely a geopolitical one (sustained by American defence agreements) and an economic one. Chillingly in the context of the annihilation of Gaza, the Trump speech has tilted the momentum towards the economic version, and I feel that many people in Europe vastly underestimate the focus that governments in the region have on the economic prize, as opposed to the humanitarian catastrophe. Various countries in the region from Qatar to Syria, may now find themselves the beneficiaries of Mr Trump's lack of attachment to history and the democratic model, and it is very likely that the region known broadly as the Middle East will be one of the very few in the world to profit from his presidency, and will spearhead a move towards a model of materialistic, technocentric non-democracies, that some of Mr Trump's supporters have in mind for the USA. The emergence of the 'Fourth Pole', a prospective multipolar zone that will become the beneficiary of trade tensions between the 'older' multipolar zones (US, EU, Asia), is still very much on track, but as it develops it will increasingly need institutions, markets, rules and means of binding people to the region, none of which Mr Trump can help with.
Scroll.in
11-05-2025
- General
- Scroll.in
‘With Earth as My Witness': Poetry as meditation on the profane and sacred, the human and the divine
'Summoning Earth', one of the five elements of nature as a witness, Tansy Troy's poems arrive in With Earth as My Witness as though they are incantations ringing through the supreme silence of the universe. They are chroniclers of time and guardian angels of 'karmic ends, completing narratives' before the great extinction. In the offerings to 'petals, bone, stone and leaf', time stands still as the Bodhi tree speaks in a voice ripened by wind and rain, its leaves remembering and 'replicating the beauteous form of Siddhartha'. The hibiscus seeks him out as he wanders through the village, offering her scarlet-crimson speech. Prayers rise as a dragon's rumble under the Bodhi Tree. In the land where these poems belong, one is released from the mortal anxieties and insecurities, and one turns deeper into the symbiotic relationship between nature and human being. The raven with her 'blue knowing' and 'darkling intuition' disappears through the earth's secret doors, showing us the way. Returning to previous lifetimes There is a greater degree of peace and contentment in relinquishing the burdens imposed by material pursuits. Elated to be at last released from 'the weight of turquoise crowns' and 'heaviness of clod,' the last Queen of Testa Kha returns to 'the wilderness of rock' and 'ceaseless torrents.' She will not trot back along the road the way back home anymore, and she is 'no longer the gatekeeper of an unacknowledged realm'. There is a deep flavour of Orientalism in these poems. As Edward Said observes, the Orient is not only adjacent to Europe; it is also the source of its civilisations and languages, its cultural contestant, and one of its deepest and most recurring images of the Other. In addition, the Orient has helped to define Europe (or the West) as its contrasting image, idea, personality and experience. Yet none of this Orient is merely imaginative. The Orient is an integral part of European material civilisation and culture. Orientalism expresses and represents that part culturally and even ideologically as a mode of discourse with supporting institutions, vocabulary, scholarship, imagery and doctrines. These poems are also about lived experiences where questions waylay the poet and she returns to previous lifetimes for answers. In the poem 'Pass Over Shinku La', 'Abe le tosses red barley, chanting/Fire in the snow as she lights the pyre/of incense to her gods./Each stone on the path appears/ to have a sacred syllable inscribed.' The poet pauses to ask whether it is altitude or do these rare, remote people really walk on prayer. How does literature restore or demolish the narratives of religion and God is a question we have contemplated from time to time in various memories of lost habitat and lost heritage, be it the Ramayana, Mahabharata, Odyssey or Ragnarök. We have also seen through the textual narratives of history how, moved by violence and anguish, human beings have relinquished power and self, be it Ashoka after the Kalinga war or Siddhartha who abandoned his kingdom and earthly comforts to be a wandering mendicant. Meeting God in Nako is a fine poem in satire which turns back the clock where one encounters young monks play-fighting at the prayer ground, plastic revolvers at the ready and as the spiritual orphans wander up on forgotten paths, God appears in a car, black as some great cat. Symbols and symbolism The poems are also about empathy for creatures that co-exist with us in this life, as momentary as a shooting star. In the third part of the poem 'I saw Three Snakes', we read: 'After speaking of the Buddha/on a verandah in rainy foothills/this third snake mesmerizes/myopically, I watch it undulate/fast as tiny gold rivulet/ smooth as swiftest mud/ In the name of the Father, a stick is raised/ Lord of life once more compelled/ to squirm indignant/ force itself/ into another dark hole/ Again, I curse those fearful voices/ who halt the Naga's dance.' This poem delves deep beneath its surface to examine a range of profound questions, intricately woven with religious symbolism and the contrasting meanings these symbols evoke. It invites us to reflect on the diverse perspectives that religions present. For instance, in the Biblical tradition, the snake is often viewed as a catalyst playing a pivotal role in Adam and Eve's fall from Eden whereas in Hinduism, the snake is revered as a symbol of divine power, embodied by Anantha Nag, the serpent god who is believed to uphold the balance of the Earth and represent the very essence of life. In Buddhist tradition, it is believed that after Buddha started meditating under the Bodhi tree, the heavens darkened and a heavy rain fell, whereupon the mighty king of snakes emerged from beneath the earth and protected Buddha with his hood. There is greater immortality in decomposition when the poet says: 'I relish the idea of being/ deconstructed by earthworms/ broken down to micronutrients/ready to re-embody as something/ wholesome, organic, serene/ reassuring to imagine/ being rocked asleep in wicker/ a seed in new sprout/ and what of the thoughts/dreams/connections/ words/visions/will these decompose as well/or are they immortalized/ by the simple act/of another/holding me/reading me/ absorbing me/ absorbing me into their world.' The idea of being absorbed into someone else's world, of being read, held, and remembered, presents a kind of immortality that exists in the shared experience between the writer and the reader. Through these multifaceted layers, the poems reveal a deep meditation on the interconnectedness of life, death, culture, religion, and memory, as the poet weaves together personal reflection with larger philosophical and spiritual questions. The timeless dance between creation and destruction, sacred and profane, the human and the divine, all find their place in Troy's powerful, tender and rich tapestry of words, even as they assertively set out a new Universal Declaration of Human Rights in a true spirit of harmony, mutual respect and peaceful co-existence with Earth as her witness.
CairoScene
07-05-2025
- Entertainment
- CairoScene
‘All Eyes on Her!': Reclaiming Egyptian Womanhood in This London Show
'All Eyes on Her!': Reclaiming Egyptian Womanhood in This London Show In 'Orientalism', Edward Said claims that, 'From the beginning of Western speculation about the Orient, the one thing the Orient could not do was to represent itself.' Said's words continue to ring true today, where a Western person's imagination of an Egyptian immediately conjures up a pharaoh, or perhaps a vague sense of chaos. The image of an Egyptian woman, more specifically, is either that of exotic eroticism or heartbreaking oppression. The stolen Egyptian artefacts on display in their museums only reinforce these ideals; pharaonic statues and belly dancers' attire and yashmaks. These images are as far as can be from the life of the Egyptian woman. Heba Abd el Gawad, a senior curator of Anthropology at the Horniman Museum and Gardens and Research Fellow at the Institute of Archaeology, University College of London (UCL), is intent on shifting that narrative. For the past four years, Abd el Gawad has been working on creating a space where the Egyptian woman can come as she is, with all that she is. The result is an exhibition at Horniman Museum and Gardens with a singular demand: 'All Eyes on Her!' 'All Eyes on Her!' is dedicated to resisting the stereotypical orientalist image of Egyptian women by honouring what they refer to as the everyday activism of these women. To put it together, Abd el Gawad used the Egyptian artefacts already existing in the museum (statues, clothes, etc.) as well as new acquisitions from women in Egypt. 'We wanted to show people the living Egypt,' Abd el Gawad tells CairoScene. 'The spirit, stories, street signs, soundscapes and even WhatsApp stickers that make up Egypt today - instead of the ancient frozen culture it is often portrayed as. It's not just an empty landscape with the pyramids as the backdrop.' The exhibition is split into three sections: resist, revolt and reclaim. All three sections are fed with initiatives from Egyptian women performing these respective actions, often unknowingly. In the resistance section, there's a display of eight women consistently showing up for their population, including Gehad Hamdy, the founder of feminist initiative Speak Up, and Namees Amrous, the founder of woman-centred community E7kky. The resist section also features the personal journal of Mai Zayed, the writer and director of 'Ash Ya Captain', a movie chronicling the trials and tribulations of Olympic female powerlifters. 'All Eyes on Her!' is Horniman's first-ever bilingual exhibition. Some installations in the exhibition are even only in Arabic, with no English translation. 'For the first time in my life, I stood in front of an exhibition window and could see myself,' says Abd el Gawad. Everything in 'All Eyes on Her!' centres Egyptian women - including the visual identity and wallpaper, which were the responsibility of Egyptian illustrator Dina Zaitoun, commonly known as Artopathic. 'We used the wallpaper as an opportunity to integrate elements that could widen people's understanding of the Egyptian woman,' Zaitoun tells us. 'In lieu of traditional feminism, with its rallies and petitions, we wanted to portray the normal woman, the woman on the street selling vegetables, or the woman taking her kids to school.' Zaitoun's illustrations gave the exhibition life; she set the stage for every element of the exhibition. She illustrated individual frames for each of the eight influential women in the resist section, based on their work and their character. She illustrated a wall of eyes (all on her, of course) that tell the story of Egyptian heritage, including the eye of Horus, as well as the evil eye, and the tearing eye Egyptian women often wear around their necks. She also illustrated iconic Egyptian women, close-up. 'Someone we featured a lot is Abla Kamel, who is featured at the centre of the display, standing on a balcony,' says Abd el Gawad. 'She's a representation of the average Egyptian woman, in all her vulnerability and equally all her strength.' In the revolt section, Abd el Gawad and Zaitoun spotlighted an Egyptian woman the Western audience typically forgets about: the women of the 1919 revolution. Here, Zaitoun illustrated images of the revolting women of that time, clad in all black, on roller skates, with phrases from the revolution floating above. 'When faced with images of faceless Arab women, the West regards them as oppressed. But we're way more than that image. We're not victims, we're revolutionary,' Abd el Gawad says. The revolt section also features images of photographer and graffiti artist Hanaa El Degham's work, whose graffiti took centre stage in representing women in the 2011 revolution. In 'Orientalism', Edward Said continues to say that 'Our role is to widen the field of discussion, not to set limits in accord with the prevailing authority.' This is the very responsibility that 'All Eyes on Her!' undertakes in the reclaim section of the exhibition. The reclaim section is where the Egyptian artefacts that are already part of the museum's collection reside, with phrases like 'take me back to my country' illustrated above them in Arabic. Another installation features a glittering dress from the 19th century, one typically worn by belly dancers at the time. Instead of catering to the orientalist view of belly dancers as erotic, the dress is shown alongside a profile of Asmaa Halim, a dance movement therapist reclaiming belly dancing as the intergenerational method of empowerment it originated as. 'It's still a priority to return these historical artefacts to their home,' Abd el Gawad emphasises, 'but that doesn't undo the damage done. Creating a conversation around our culture, showing people a new, perhaps shocking perspective on it, is what enables us to reclaim our heritage and our narrative as our own. We're no longer being narrated by foreigners - we're speaking for ourselves.'
Qatar Tribune
07-05-2025
- Qatar Tribune
Qatar National Library explores women's voices in travel literature
Tribune News Network Doha Qatar National Library organised a symposium exploring the often-overlooked contributions of women to the genre of travel literature. Bringing together leading researchers and academics, the event examined how female travellers from the 19th and early 20th centuries used travel—and the literature it inspired—as a means of personal empowerment, self-discovery and the reimagining of prevailing social norms. Titled 'Women's Travel Literature: Journeys Through Female Eyes—Between the Real and the Imagined', the symposium highlighted the distinctive voices of female travellers who documented their encounters with the East during an era when women were often excluded from the traditional literary canon. The event featured presentations by a distinguished group of international scholars, including Dr. Falestin Naili (University of Basel, Switzerland), Dr. Leila Jabri (Institute of Heritage, Tunisia), Dr. Soundouss El-Ketani (Royal Military College of Canada), and Dr. Nadia Riahi (University of Tunis). Each offered valuable insights into the lives and legacies of women like Hilma Granqvist, Princess Therese of Bavaria, Cristina Belgiojoso, and Isabelle Eberhardt—figures who contributed to the understanding of cultural 'otherness' through their travel writings, artistic works and ethnographic observations. Dr. Moez Dridi, senior archives specialist at Qatar National Library, opened the symposium with a general introduction that set the stage for exploring how travel allowed women to question identity, engage with themes of social justice and construct new relationships between gender, space and cultural boundaries. 'The writings of these women offer an overlooked but profoundly enriching perspective on both travel and the shaping of Orientalism,' said Dr. Dridi. 'They invite us to revisit history through a female lens, one that challenges dominant narratives and uncovers new dimensions of intercultural understanding,' he added. The symposium invited attendees to reflect on whether female Orientalism exists—developed in the same historical period as its male counterpart—through the lived experiences and intellectual contributions of women travellers, archaeologists and ethnologists who engaged with distant lands in transformative ways. The event was conducted in both Arabic and English and welcomed researchers, academics and members of the public with an interest in literature, gender studies, history and cross-cultural exploration. To learn more about upcoming events at Qatar National Library, please visit the Library's website at
Observer
28-04-2025
- Politics
- Observer
The psychology of denial: Why the world looks away from Gaza
The tragedy of the Palestinian people in Gaza is not only the horror of the genocide they endure, but also the systematic denial of their suffering. A more painful dimension has emerged: an active refusal by many global political forces to see the horror unfolding, to recognise the victims as human beings rather than collateral damage, and to allow their voices to be heard as victims of a terrifying humanitarian catastrophe. Thus, the erasure in Gaza is twofold: the destruction of bodies, and the destruction of memory. This massive silence surrounding the atrocities cannot be dismissed as mere indifference. It is the most agonising extension of the crime itself. Historically, the faces of victims have been selectively acknowledged. The suffering of colonised and marginalised peoples has often been reduced to distant echoes, unworthy of mainstream historical narrative. Today, in Gaza, this pattern repeats: the killings are visible, livestreamed to the world, and yet surrounded by a wall of silence — a silence born not of ignorance but of conscious denial. In many modern political systems, it is no longer enough to defeat an enemy militarily. One must also strip them of their humanity, transform their death into an administrative footnote about 'security' or 'counterterrorism,' thus reducing human life to a disposable statistic. Denial here is not an accident; it is a deliberate cultural and institutional practice. Sociologists describe this as 'dehumanisation' - a necessary tool for waging war. Through dehumanisation, mass violence is reframed as a legal procedure or a necessary evil, not as a humanitarian outrage. This strategy includes even questioning the death toll itself, as if high numbers pose a threat to the dominant narrative. Recall former US president Joe Biden casting doubt on the figures reported by Gaza's Health Ministry, despite these figures being trusted for decades by the UN and international relief agencies. The US House of Representatives went further in June 2024, passing a measure banning the State Department from citing Gaza's death tolls — a move Democratic Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib called 'a systematic attempt to deny genocide.' The rhetoric escalates horrifyingly in comments like those of Republican Congressman Max Miller, who said that 'Palestine is about to become a parking lot,' and called for war 'without rules of engagement,' dismissing Palestinian civilians as legitimate targets. Congresswoman Michelle Salzman went even further, suggesting openly that all Palestinians should be killed. Such statements are not accidental slips. They reveal a deep ideological system that sees Palestinians not as a humanitarian cause but as a historical burden to be erased. Denial, then, is not merely about rejecting facts. It is about reinterpreting the world — turning massacres into acts of self-defence, and stripping victims of the very right to be recognised as human. Here, Edward Said's insights into 'the new Orientalism' resonate: Palestinians, like other Arabs, are not seen as individuals with rights but as obstacles to Western-defined moral order — obstacles to be neutralised or eliminated. This denial often explodes into visible anger when those engaged in it are confronted with the stark reality of Gaza's suffering. Watching political figures grow furious or visibly shaken when challenged about the humanitarian catastrophe reveals a profound ethical wound they cannot easily conceal. It is not political debate; it is a defensive reaction to the moral collapse exposed when facts overwhelm carefully crafted narratives. In Gaza, the ultimate tragedy is not only the death and destruction, but this global collapse of moral sensitivity — where merely recognising victims becomes a provocation, and debates arise over who even qualifies as fully human. Thus, beyond urgent calls for ceasefire or humanitarian aid, there is a deeper, more vital demand: the shattering of the thick wall of denial. We must restore to the victims of Gaza their most basic right — the right to be seen, heard, and mourned as human beings. Without this, the death toll — whether 50,000 or 10,000 — stands as an indictment of a world that failed to protect its shared humanity. Asim al Shidi The writer is Editor-in-Chief of Oman daily newspaper Translated by Badr al Dhafari The original version of the article appeared in Oman Arabic daily newspaper on April 27, 2025.
