Reorienting Orientalism

This collection of eleven essays reevaluates Edward Said's definition of 'orientalism' widely misconstrued as being merely postcolonial and contestable. The volume emphasizes the need to move beyond the prejudice and stereotype tied to the context of colonial exploitation. It challenges the assumption that oriental studies only served to segregate cultures and undermine the oriental peoples' capacity for self-formation. It shows how cultures can generate studies of themselves on their own, and the impetus for such work was clearly noticeable at least in Indian cultural scholarship during the c.

Cover; Contents; List of Maps; List of Abbreviations; Foreword; Preface; Acknowledgements; 1. Iskandar, Alexander: Oriental Geography and Romantic Poetry; 2. 'Oriental Gothic': The Medieval Past in the Colonial Encounter; 3. The Limits of Orientalism: Classical Indian Dance and the Discourse of Heritage; 4. 'Truth Is, at the Moment, Here': Adrienne Rich and the Ghazal; 5. Two Occidental Heroines through Oriental Eyes; 6. Orientalism and its Other(s): Re-reading Marx on India; 7. Reading 'the Poverty of India': A Critical Engagement with the Saidian Interpretation of Orientalism.

8. Imaging the Nature of the Orient: Some Contradictions behind Colonial Forest Policies in India9. Can We Cross the Chasm? Agency and Orientalist Discourse in the Colonial Tamil Context; 10. The 'Octopodal Idea': Vincent Smith, Oxford University Press and the Histories of India; 11. Undreamt by Tyrants and Orthodoxies: Edward Said, Orientalism and the Politics of Cyberspace; About the Editor and Contributors; Index.