The ascendancy and self-globalization of the West
went hand in hand with its exploration of “the Rest”
not only in geographical, political and military terms but
also in the form of opening up a new Oriental Studies
world of knowledge. Over centuries, European scholars
proceeded to penetrate non-European societies and
cultures from languages, literature and belief systems to
history proper. They produced a wealth of publications,
including major dictionaries, encyclopedias, translations,
anthologies and commentaries, that are to this day the
indispensable reference materials and tools of trade of all
scholars of the Middle East, of Islam, or of the
Ottoman Empire. At the same time they constructed a
vision, a gaze, an ideology of Eurocentrism
and Orientalism. The object of this course is to introduce
historians in the making to both aspects in their
interconnected development, and especially to familiarize
them with an immensely rich background of learning that
will stay with them through their entire careers.
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