Postcolonial Theory and the Arab-Israel Conflict

ISBN-13: 9780415443258 / Angielski / Twarda / 2008 / 6 str.

Opis

Postcolonial theory is one of the main frameworks for thinking about the world and acting to change the world. Arising in academia and reshaping humanities and social sciences disciplines, postcolonial theory argues that our ideas about foreigners, 'the other, ' particularly our negative ideas about them, are determined not by a true will to understand, but rather by our desire to conquer, dominate, and exploit them. According to postcolonial theory, the cause of poverty, tyranny, and misery in the world, and of failed societies around the world, is Euro-American imperialism and colonialism. Previously published as a special issue of Israel Affairs, this work examines and challenges postcolonial theory. In scholarly, research-based papers, the specialist authors examine various facets of postcolonial theory and application. First, the theoretical assumption and formulations of postcolonial theory are scrutinized and found dubious. Second, the deleterious impact on academic disciplines of postcolonial theory is demonstrated. Third, the distorted postcolonial view of history, its obsession with current events to the exclusion of the historical basis of events, is exposed and corrected. Fourth, an examination of Middle Eastern culture challenges the assumption that these societies have been shaped entirely, and victimized, by Western intrusion. Finally, exploring the Arab-Israel conflict, the one-sided case of postcolonial Arabism is explored and found to be faulty.

Spis treści

1. Introduction  Donna Robinson Divine  Postcolonial Theory  2. Essentialism, Consistency and Islam: A Critique of Edward Said’s Orientalism  Irfan Khawaja  3. Postcolonialism and the Utopian Imagination  Ronald Niezen  4. Orientalism and the Foreign Sovereign: Today I am a Man of Law  Ed Morgan  5. Mistakenness and the Nature of the ‘Post’: The Ethics and the Inevitability of Error in Theoretical Work  Laurie Zoloth  Postcolonialism in the Disciplines  6. The Influence of Edward Said and Orientalism on Anthropology, or: Can the Anthropologist Speak?  Herbert S. Lewis  7. Postcolonial Theory and the Ideology of Peace Studies  Gerald M. Steinberg  Postcolonialism and Middle Eastern History  8. The Missing Piece: Islamic Imperialism  Efraim Karsh  9. The Muslim Man’s Burden: Muslim Intellectuals Confront their Imperialist Past  David Cook  10. Negating the Legacy of Jihad in Palestine  Andrew G. Bostom  Postcolonialism and Middle Eastern Culture  11. Arab Culture and Postcolonial Theory  Philip Carl Salzman  12. Edward Said and the Culture of Honour and Shame: Orientalism and our Misperceptions of the Arab–Israeli Conflict  Richard Landes  13. Postcolonial Theory and the History of Zionism  Gideon Shimoni  14. De-Judaizing the Homeland: Academic Politics in Rewriting the History of Palestine  S. Ilan Troen  15. The Middle East Conflict and its Postcolonial Discontents  Donna Robinson Divine  16. The Political Psychology of Postcolonial Ideology in the Arab World: An Analysis of ‘Occupation’ and the ‘Right of Return’  Irwin J. Mansdorf

O autorze

Philip Carl Salzman is Professor of Anthropology at McGill University Donna Robinson Divine isMorningstar Family Professor of Jewish Studies and Professor of Government atSmith College