The Appropriation of ‘Curiosity’
Progress comes by opposing the process by which non-Western peoples are viewed as passive, weak and disinterested, while enabling the retrieval of different ways of knowing and understanding the epistemologies of the South.
Academic Orientalism in Russia-Ukraine Scholarship
The roots of academic orientalism lie in Western histories of Russia and Crimea – political scientists who work on Russia acting as gatekeepers to Russian and Eurasian studies in the West.
Interview – Robert Vitalis
Robert Vitalis talks about the importance of Black History Month, the Howard School, racism in world politics, and the importance of decontructing the history of IR.
5 Reasons Why the West Got Islamist Terrorism Wrong
Essentializing Islam will not help us find a solution to the use of violence by Muslims. On the contrary, it will only impede the understanding of anti-Western terrorism.
Ontologicidal Violence: The Muslim Subject and International Law
International law is premised on a hierarchical organizing of cultures, and is therefore critically unstable because its own biases undermine its claims to universality.
Neo-Orientalism: Indonesia’s Colonialism and Papua
Lessons learnt from Dutch colonialism have resulted in Indonesia’s mimicking and replicating its own code of imperialism, resulting in Papua’s accession into Indonesia.
The Politicisation of Orientalism: The Mutation of a Paradigm
The politicisation of Orientalism by the West had led to a mutation in the paradigm such that it has become not just a manifestation of imperialism but its instrument.
Reflections on the American War, Karzai, and Orientalism in Afghanistan
The lens of Orientalism allows us to see the weight of historical and cultural gravity in Afghanistan. However, it has reached its metaphorical zenith in the country.
Review – Orientalism
Said’s seminal work remains pertinent, not just because of the postcolonial and poststructuralist literature which it sparked, but because its insights can be seen in the current mainstream attitude towards Islam.
Interview – Arshin Adib-Moghaddam
Arshin Adib-Moghaddam searches for the theoretical underpinnings of the clash of civilizations. Expanding critical theory to include Islamic philosophy and poetry, this metahistory refuses to treat the Orient and the Occident as separate entities.
