Critical Social Inquiry 0275 - East/West & Decolonial Proj.

There is a long tradition of Orientalist discourse that has functioned to represent certain spaces (the Middle East/Mediterranean) and peoples as appropriate targets of violent intervention and rule. In this course, we will discuss how the Orientalist imaginary was realized, thus affording the east/west divide of the present. One key factor in the colonization and exploitation of the aforementioned spaces was the internalization of externally determined narratives of identity. As Mahmood Mamdani suggests, persons were defined and then ruled. Many of these identities linger in the contemporary, such that the colonial political relation has superficially dissipated, while the colonial mentality remains. The specter of colonialism continues to cause violence throughout the territories closest to the east/west divide, which allows for an ongoing exploitative relation with western powers. In more recent history a counter-Orientalist narrative has emerged in an effort to liberate or decolonize the colonial subject and ultimately stop these violent relations; thus, the bulk of this course will involve working with figures such as Edward Said, Hamid Dabashi, Joseph Massad, Talal Asad, Saba Mahmood, as well as many others who are often overlooked precisely because of the east/west power binary that they are working to undermine.

Independent Work Multiple Cultural Perspectives Writing and Research Students are expected to spend at least six to eight hours a week of preparation and work outside of class time.