Orientalism

At the end of last week, a very important conference was held in Istanbul on Edward Said, the famous Palestinian writer who produced a groundbreaking work on Orientalism and passed away two years ago, and on Orientalism itself. The conference, organized by the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality, invited names that come first to mind when Orientalism or Edward Said is mentioned all over the world, as well as figures leading the critiques of Orientalism at the highest level in the Islamic world. Gayatri Spivak, Robert Young, Reina Lewis, Roger Benjamin, Şerif Mardin, Parvez Mansoor, Bobby S. Sayyid, Abdulkarim Vakil, and Hassan Hanafi were just a few of them.

While issues such as the "alliance of civilizations", "dialogue", the "Pope's visit", the movie "Takva" and the debates surrounding it were going at full steam on Turkey's agenda, there could hardly be anything more meaningful than inviting people to reflect on Orientalism at this level.

The problems voiced due to Orientalism are much more complex than imagined. When conceived, in Cemil Meriç's words, as the "scout of colonialism", it is being overly simplified. It portrays a conspiracy by social science, literature, and art circles in the West working together to distort the East and make it suitable for Western invaders to colonize the Islamic world. However, without understanding how Orientalism works, we cannot understand the logic of intercultural communication and understanding or misunderstanding.

The problems of Orientalism do not stem solely from some people joining hands to intentionally distort the East. This kind of effort constitutes the mildest of the outcomes produced by Orientalism. The efforts of those who deliberately try to produce stereotypes about the East stand out blatantly, and defense discourses against them can be generated very easily. Indeed, the defense discourse developed against Orientalism throughout history in the Islamic world has been of this nature.

However, Orientalism as Said described it can infect anyone trying to know and understand the East with the most sincere intentions. Ultimately, everyone tries to understand from where they stand. Everyone sees everything from their own perspective. Do not most of the debates arise from everyone insisting on considering what they see from where they stand as more accurate than what others see from where they stand?

You cannot ask anyone not to look from where they stand. Nor can you force people to stand at the exact point where you necessarily stand just to look at you.

To be honest, people's perception of Islam is not independent of their experiences with Islam or Muslims, what they have heard, and what they have seen. It is impossible for everyone to have heard, seen, and experienced the same things about Islam. Therefore, every understanding and definition of Islam is inevitably incomplete (or rather, "partial"). This partiality creates a problem when generalized. The problem of Orientalism is also the transformation of perceptions about Islam, which could be considered innocent in a partial sense, into stereotypes representing Islam.

Edward Said's perception of "Orientalism that has failed to overcome its cultural prejudices" is also very prone to producing a stereotype about Orientalism. His view can also function like an ideology working as the scout of colonialism. Indeed, the famous Marxist social scientist Maxime Rodinson responded to Said's description by painting a picture of "an Orientalism fascinated by Islam".

No way has yet been found for cultural encounters to take place free from certain complexes. Every encounter leads to the formation of either a superiority complex or an inferiority complex. Every encounter creates an interaction that brings either joy or discomfort. Usually, there is no encounter that has no effect at all.

Of course, the way others understand Islam may not always happen in the way we want. Without taking into account under what conditions someone encountered Islam or Muslims, we cannot place the responsibility for all bad images about Islam on the shoulders of Orientalism. How can you show and endear the face of Islam to a US soldier who encounters Muslims as insurgents in Iraq, or to an Israeli soldier who encounters Islam as a suicide fatwa in Palestine?

Even the most accurate expression of Islam is no guarantee that it will be correctly understood by everyone. Therefore, there is no need to get caught up in the stereotypes of Orientalism and develop a complex. As long as Muslims sufficiently ask themselves whether they can bear witness to humanity through their own actions and practices.