This conference will bring together the international and the Turkish
scholars in the field in order to discuss Orientalism in the context of the problems outlined below, in a new and fresh perspective.
a) The context of Orientalism as an academic discipline: Industrialization, Modernity,
colonialism,
b) Orientalist knowledge as scientific/objective knowledge vs orientalist knowledge as ideological/politics-dependent/based knowledge; the results of the “Eurocentric”, “Western-centred” character of orientalist knowledge,
c) A critique of Edward Said's handling of orientalism in his book Orientalism,
d) The state of orientalist studies after Edward Said,
d) Evaluation of the criticisms of Orientalism in terms of content, scope and diversity,
e) “Eastern” societies versus orientalist knowledge: National/local historiography experiences/discussions in Eastern societies, apart from orientalist definitions,
f) The possibility of a “local” (“vernacular” or “indigenous”) knowledge production
independent of orientalism in fields such as history, sociology, philology, cultural studies,
mythology, history of religions,
g) Orientalist knowledge production in terms of the experiences, institutions and studies of
different Western countries such as England, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain,
Italy and Russia,
h) What is the approach to orientalist knowledge in different cultural worlds outside the
Islamic world, such as Indian, Chinese, Japanese or African societies that have been the
object of orientalist studies?
i) Criticisms, counter-criticisms and counter-arguments against orientalist studies and
orientalist forms of knowledge both in the Muslim East and in the wider Eastern world, and
their claims to ground themselves outside of orientalist knowledge.