| The New Orientalists: Postmodern Representations of Islam from Foucault to Baudrillard Contributor(s): Almond, Ian (Author) |
|
 |
ISBN: 1845113985 ISBN-13: 9781845113988 Publisher: I. B. Tauris & Company OUR PRICE: $35.59 Product Type: Paperback Published: August 2007 Annotation: The west's Orientalism -- its construction of the Arab "Other" -- has been exposed, examined and expurgated under the critical theory microscope in recent years yet the issue has acquired renewed urgency in light of the current climate of fear and hysteria about the Islamic world. At the same time post-modern thinkers from Nietzsche onwards have employed the motifs and symbols of the Islamic Orient within an ongoing critique of western modernity, an appropriation which -- this hugely controversial book argues -- runs every risk of becoming a new and subtle form of Orientalism. Examining the work of Nietzsche, Jacques Derrida, Michel Foucault, Jean Baudrillard, Julia Kristeva and Slavoj Zizek and of post-modern writers from Borges to Salman Rushdie and Orhan Pamuk, Ian Almond also draws on Muslim thinkers including Akbar S. Ahmed and Bobby S. Sayyid in this timely project. The result is a provocative examination of the effects and implications of this "use" of Islam for both the post-modern project and for Islam itself. |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - Religion | Islam - General - Philosophy | Criticism |
| Dewey: 181.07 |
| Physical Information: 0.76" H x 5.45" W x 7.96" (0.67 lbs) 240 pages |
| Themes: - Religious Orientation - Islamic |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: The west's Orientalism - its construction of an Arab or Islamic 'Other' - has been exposed and examined under the critical theory microscope and thoroughly expelled, it seems, from academic thought. At the same time postmodern thinkers from Nietzsche onwards have employed the motifs and symbols of the Islamic Orient within an ongoing critique of western modernity, an appropriation which, this hugely controversial book argues, runs every risk of becoming a new and more insidious Orientalist strain.Ian Almond sensitively yet rigorously examines the work of Nietzsche, Jacques Derrida, Michel Foucault, Jean Baudrillard, Julia Kristeva and Slavoj Zizek, as well as that of postmodern writers Jorge Luis Borges, Salman Rushdie and Orhan Pamuk. In doing so he exposes the implications of this 'use' of Islam for both the postmodern project and for Islam itself. Taking apart the assumptions, omissions and contradictions inherent in these thinkers' approaches to Islam and to the Arab world, and drawing on the work of prominent Muslim thinkers including Ziauddin Sardar, Aziz Al-Azmeh and Bobby S. Sayyid, "The New Orientalists" highlights the difficulty of ever speaking truly about the 'Other'. In light of the current Western climate of fear and hysteria surrounding the Islamic world, this groundbreaking project could hardly be more timely. |