Changing views of the East
[28/05/2008]
Western perceptions of the East have evolved over the years. A number of authors look at these changing views in the latest issue of the UOC’s Digithum e-journal, which celebrates its tenth anniversary this year.
Western perceptions of the East have evolved over the years. A number of authors look at these changing views in the latest issue of the UOC’s Digithum e-journal, which celebrates its tenth anniversary this year.
The dossier, entitled “Orientalism”, brings together a series of articles inspired by the ideas of Edward Said, political critic and literary theoretician known for describing Orientalism as a series of erroneous prejudices in Western attitudes towards the East. Together, the dossier’s articles show the importance of the contribution of Said and defend the need to continue working to make it even more relevant and valid, both in terms of the academic context and its dissemination in society.
Carles Prado, lecturer in the UOC’s Languages and Cultures department, coordinated this dossier that involved the participation of a number of authors. One of these, David Martínez talks about the evolution in the perception from the West of China as a historical entity in his article entitled “The Western Representation of Modern China: Orientalism, Culturalism and Historiographical Criticism”.
Albert Galvany, in “Instrumentalisation of Passions, Social Regulation and Transcendence of Power in the Hanfeizi 韓非子”, looks to present certain fundamental elements that form the basis of the political and philosophical proposal of the Hanfeizi, one of the most important texts from pre-imperial China.
A third article, “On Monkeys and Japanese: Mimicry and Anastrophe in Orientalist Representation”, written by Blai Guarné, looks at the implications of Orientalism in the stereotypical representation of Japan by analysing the discourses of the paradox and inverse civilisation.
Completing Digithum’s dossier is an article by Carles Prado, entitled “Against Besieged Literature: Fictions, Obsessions, and Globalisations of Chinese Literature”, in which he defends the fact that it is essential to recover the literariness of the literary text, appealing to the sophistication and critical capacity of readers, as a basic strategy for liberating Chinese literature from the interpretive siege that constrains it.
Digithum
Digithum, the e-journal produced by the UOC's Humanities, and Languages and Cultures departments, is an academic publication coming out annually since 1999. It was the first to be published by the UOC and the first to gain an ISSN (1575-2275). It mainly publishes articles reflecting on the changes that digital technologies produce in terms of the objects of study and methods in the humanities, and human and social sciences, and on the role of these disciplines in the information and knowledge society. It also offers articles linked to this field produced by authors working, in particular, on their development in virtual learning environments.
Humanities and Language and Literature