Orientalism, Disorientation, and the “Other Side of the World”

Abstract

This paper examines orientalism and its repercussions in the field of Late Antiquity. Instead of treating orientalism as a textual phenomenon, I argue that it is a continuous experiential process that comes as a result of encountering texts, objects, and others. I take examples from familiar academic practices and institutions—translations, editions, archeology, museums, digitization, etc.—all of which are related to access to this field. Discourses on progress sometimes cloud the ethical and moral issues of these practices, which we have inherited from older generations of Western scholars. I show how modern efforts and approaches remain insufficient in some cases, and more importantly how they primarily benefit scholars from or located in the West. This article, thus, aims to point out their shortcomings and critique the prevailing optimistic narrative of justice and progress in the hopes of inciting a more productive dialogue about access and knowledge production.