#orientalismus 07 Mariia Guleva: China orientalized and orientalizing

ANOTACE

From the times of Jesuit missionaries' arrival in China the information about this country in Europe was actively accumulated and interpreted to various means and ends. However, it has been a widely acknowledged issue that the idealized or demonized perceptions of China led to an 'Orientalistic' approach to studying and imagining China. While contemplating this problem, it is also necessary to ponder the matter of China's own role in both shaping its Orientalist image and participating in re-shaping it to China's purposes. From this point of view, this lecture's discussion turns to Arif Dirlik's paper on Asian intellectuals' "self-orientalisation", as well as to Daniel Vukovich's analysis of Chinese party-state's internalisation of Orientalism in the PRC years. Additionally, the discussion proposes to look into the most radical forms of Orientalist dehumanisation in the form of 'yellow peril' discourse and its personification, Dr. Fu Manchu. As the outcome of the lecture, students should become more aware of both the practical implications of Orientalism in Chinese politics and the complicated nature of factors contributing to China-related Orientalism.

 

LITERATURA

• Dirlik, Arif. 1996. “Chinese History and the Question of Orientalism.” History and Theory 35: 96–118. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/2505446

 

DALŠÍ ČETBA

• Frayling, Christopher. 2014. The Yellow Peril: Dr. Fu Manchu and the Rise of Chinaphobia. London: Thames and Hudson. ISBN: 9780500252079.
• Vukovich, Daniel F. 2012. China and Orientalism. Western Knowledge Production and the P.R.C. London and New York: Routledge, Taylor and Francis Group. ISBN: 9780415592208.