Orientalist Fantasies and Economic Realities
Professor Sahar Amer
(samer@email.unc.edu)
TTH 11:00-12:15
This class will examine the French encounter with and discourse on the Orient (the Near, Middle and Far Easts and North Africa) in its two essential dimensions. First, the Orient as a world of absolute exoticism, otherness, mystery and sensuality, a world in which French writers could find meaning in their endless quest for personal, political and artistic fulfillment. And second, the Orient as an economic reality, a desirable land of exploitation, both for colonial and post-colonial Europe. We will begin by reading One Thousand and One Nights, a quintessential example of Eastern sensuality. We will then turn to a selection of 19th century accounts of travel to the East and to paintings which highlight the veiled exoticism and orientalist fantasies of the West.
The remainder (and major part of the course) will be devoted to contemporary French writings, music, and film which unmask and subvert the Occidental idealization of the East. Throughout the course, additional readings (from various historical sources and newspapers) will allow us to inquire into the economic and political realities of this constructed discourse on the Orient. We will see how post-colonial Europe (but also increasingly the US) still determines not only the way countries in the East function culturally and economically, but also how the West sees and talks about them.
Requirements for this course include: weekly reading and active class participation; research for oral presentations; midterm and final. Students will also collaborate to the expansion of a web page on "Orientalism today" and to the search for appropriate links to other relevant home pages on the internet.