Arab encounters with Orientalism in the colonial age

Ever since its publication, Edward Said’s thesis on “orientalism” as a specific cultural and historical dynamic has occupied a central stage of studies of Islamic and Arabic cultures, as well as various other cultural and historical disciplines. This research, however, questions the historical accuracy of Said’s argument by trying to uncover the bidirectional nature of communication between European scholars of Islam and native intellectuals of the Arabic region(s) in the late 19th century and early 20th century. The research hypothesize that this transcultural encounter has manifested in the production of diverse knowledge(s) on both the Arab East and the European West, as well as various interpretation of the relationship between Islam and modernity. It will study the different forms of contacts and mutual discovery and negotiation between Western orientalists and Arab scholars as intellectual peers, rather than a case of one-sided interpretation of the traditions and societies of colonial subjects through the eyes colonial actors. The research aims to uncover the cultural traces of this dialogue in the actual words and works of the scholars participating in and shaping; especially how Arab scholars cooperated with western scholars in producing this “Orientalist” knowledge about the East. The research depends on a variety of sources, including the works “The International Congresses of Orientalists” as their earliest platform of encounter, personal and official archives, correspondences, biographies and autobiographies, travelogues, scholarly works, as well as historical periodicals.