Occidentalism: Studying the West from a Non-Western Perspective
##plugins.themes.bootstrap3.article.main##
##plugins.themes.bootstrap3.article.sidebar##
Published
Dec 10, 2025
Copyright Information
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
Ismail Mseer
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7524-6564
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7524-6564
Abstract
Occidentalism represents a profound intellectual project aimed at understanding the West from a non-Western perspective, emphasizing dialogue, mutual understanding, and constructive engagement rather than opposition or confrontation. Drawing inspiration from the values of tolerance and respectful debate emphasized in Islam, this approach encourages engagement with Western cultural and historical structures as cognitive objects rather than as absolute standards or independent entities. Occidentalism sheds light on the experiences of non-Western societies in responding to historical, social, and cultural challenges, highlighting the processes of self-identity formation, cultural negotiation, and intercultural understanding. This approach employs a multidisciplinary methodology, combining intellectual history, cultural studies, and discourse analysis across texts, art, media, and political speech. It emphasizes comparative analyses of Western representations across diverse contexts to foster a more nuanced and critical understanding of global cultural interactions.
Metrics
Metrics Loading ...
##plugins.themes.bootstrap3.article.details##
Keywords
OccidentalismWestern civilizationcultural understandingintellectual securityknowledge production
References
Al-Azm, Sadik Jalal. "Ces interdits qui nous hantent Islam, censure, orientalisme,” A contrario, No. 14, (2008). https://doi.org/10.3917/aco.102.0149a
Al-Hamdi, Ridho. "Hassan Hanafi’s Epistemology on Occidentalism: Dismantling Western Superiority, Constructing Equal Civilization." Epistemé: Jurnal Pengembangan Ilmu Keislaman, Vol. 14, No. 1 (2019), pp. 73-106.
Almeida Filho, Naomar, and Coutinho, Denise. “Counter-hegemonic higher education in a remote coastal region of Brazil: The Federal University of Southern Bahia as a Case Study.” in Robert Aman and Timothy Ireland Educational Alternatives in Latin America: New Modes of Counter-Hegemonic Learning. Palgrave: Palgrave macmillan, 2019, pp.143-174.
Armayanto, Harda, Achmad Reza Hutama Al Faruqi, and Zain Naura Safira Salsabila “The Challenges Of Western Thoughts In Indonesia: A Study of Centre For Islamic And Occidental Studies (CIOS) Role,” MIQOT: Jurnal Ilmu-ilmu Keislaman, Vol. 47, No. 2 (2023), pp. 149-161. http://dx.doi.org/10.30821/miqot.v47i2.993
Aydin, Cemil. “Between occidentalism and the global left: Islamist critiques of the West in Turkey.” Comparative Studies of South Asia, Africa and the Middle East, Vol. 26, No.3 (2006), pp. 446-461.
Badarussyamsi, B. “Reframing Occidentalism: Purpose, Construction of Scientific Paradigms, and Reconstruction of Post-Orientalism Knowledge.” Journal of Islamic Thought and Civilization, Vol. 13, No.1 (2023), pp. 59-74.
Buruma, Ian. and Margalit, Avishai. Occidentalism: The West in the Eyes of Its Enemies. New York: Penguin Press, 2005.
Chen, Xiaomei Occidentalism: A Theory of Counter-Discourse in Post-Mao China, New York: Oxford University Press, 1995.
Cherkaoui, Tarek. "Orientalism, Pan-Arabism, and military-media warfare: A comparison between CNN and Aljazeera coverage of the Iraq war." (Doctoral Dissertation, Auckland University of Technology, 2010).
Cusick, James. "Cultural Characteristic Continuity: Basis for Rapid Foreign Scientific, Engineering, and Technological Transformation in Meiji era Japan (1868–1912)." (Master’s thesis, Polytechnic Institute of NYU, 2009).
Dirlik, Arif. “Chinese History and the Question of Orientalism.” History and Theory, Vol. 35, No. 4 (December 1996), pp. 96–118. https://doi.org/10.2307/2505446
Fangjun, Cao. "Modernization theory and China's road to modernization." Chinese studies in history, Vol. 43, No. 1 (2009), pp 7-16. https://doi.org/10.2753/CSH0009-4633430101
Ghalioun, Burhan. "Debate: The persistence of Arab authoritarianism." Journal of democracy, Vol. 15, No. 4 (2004), pp. 126-132. https://doi.org/10.1353/jod.2004.0062
Güven, Fikret. "Criticism to Edward W. Said’s orientalism." RumeliDE Dil ve Edebiyat Araştırmaları Dergisi, No. 15 (2019), pp. 418-430. https://doi.org/10.29000/rumelide.580700
Hadi Elaaf, Rajih. "The Impact Of US'Neo-Orientalism On The Future Of Nation-State In Iraq In The Light Of IS Crisis." (PhD dissertation, LUISS University of Rome, Italy, 2017).
Hanafi, Hassan. “From orientalism to occidentalism.” In: Kirsi Henriksson & Anitta Kynsilehto (eds.), Building Peace by Intercultural Dialogue. Finland: TAPRI, 2008, pp. 257-65.
Hanafi, Hassan. Muqaddimah fī ʻilm al-istighrāb (in Arabic). Cairo: al-Dār al-fannīyah lil-Nashr wa-al-Tawzīʻ, 1991.
Ikegami, Eiko. "Citizenship and national identity in early Meiji Japan, 1868–1889: A comparative assessment." International Review of Social History, Vol. 40, No. S3 (1995), pp. 185-221. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0020859000113641
Irwin, Robert. "The Real Discourses of Orientalism." In François Pouillion and Jean-Claude Vatin, After Orientalism, Leiden: Brill, 2015, pp. 18-30.
Ismail, Muhammad Arifin. “Sikap Pesantren dalam Menghadapi Paham Pluralisme Agama.” TOLERANSI: Media Ilmiah Komunikasi Umat Beragama, Vol. 5, No. 2 (2013), pp. 118-125. https://doi.org/10.24014/trs.v5i2.65
Jārī, Juwaydah. “Qirāʼah taḥlīlīyah naqdīyah fī Mashrūʻ muqaddimah fī ʻilm al-istighrāb (lil-mufakkir Ḥasan Ḥanafī).” (in Arabic). Majallat al-Ḥikmah lil-Dirāsāt al-ijtimāʻīyah, Vol. 3, No. 1 (2015), pp. 98-126.
Konuk, Kader. East west mimesis: Auerbach in Turkey. California: Stanford University Press, 2010.
lʻbādlyh, ʻĀʼishah. “nihāyat al-istishrāq wa-bidāyat al-istighrāb: qirāʼah fī Mashrūʻ Ḥasan Ḥanafī al-fikrī – muqaddimah fī ʻilm al-istighrāb.” (in Arabic). Majallat Hīrūdūt lil-ʻUlūm al-Insānīyah wa-al-Ijtimāʻīyah. Vol. 8, No. 1 (2024), pp. 361-374.
Matar, Nabil I. "The question of Occidentalism in early modern Morocco," in Patricia Clare Ingham and Michelle R. Warren, Postcolonial Moves: Medieval Through Modern. New York: Palgrave Macmillan US, 2003, pp. 153-170.
Metin, Abdullah. "Occidentalism: An eastern reply to orientalism," bilig: Journal of Social Sciences of the Turkic World, No. 93 (2020), pp. 181-202.
Muharram, Mohammed Abdullah Hussein. "Occidentalism/Orientalism in reverse: The West in the eyes of modern Arab intellectuals." Journal of American Studies of Turkey, Vol. 39 (2014), pp. 43-54.
Nader, Laura. “Orientalism, Occidentalism and the Control of Women,” Cultural dynamics, Vol. 2, No.3 (1989), pp. 323-355.
Prado, Ignacio M. Sánchez. Strategic Occidentalism: On Mexican Fiction, the Neoliberal Book Market, and the Question of World Literature. Illinois:Northwestern University Press, 2018.
Regina Chatruch del Río. “Criticism As An Answer To The Social Crise: The Example Of Sadiq Jalal Al-Azm, A Representative Figure Of The Secular Critical Thought In The Contemporary Arab World.” at the International Congress: ‘La Crise Des Sciences De l’Homme’. Algeria: University Abderrahmane-Mira, n.d.
Said, Edward W. "Orientalism," The Georgia Review, Vol. 31, No. 1 (1977), pp. 162-206.
Saleh, Yassin al-Haj and Weiss, Max. “The Intellectuals and the Revolution in Syria.” in Jens Hanssen and Max Weiss, Arabic Thought against the Authoritarian Age: Towards an Intellectual History of the Present. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2018.
Salhi, Zahia Smail. Occidentalism: Literary representations of the Maghrebi experience of the east-west encounter. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2019.
Sari, Darmelia Puspita, and Dinah Alifia Ainaya. “Counter Radicalism On Millennials (Case Study: Counter Radicalism In The University Of Darussalam Gontor Through Regular Study By Cios),” The Transformation of Global Challenges on Humanity Issues, Vol. 15 (2020).
School of Islamic and Occidental Studies (SIOS). “About SIOS.” Accessed at: https://sios.ac
Shands, K. W. Neither east nor west: From orientalism to postcoloniality. Stockholm: Södertörns högskola, 2008.
Shih, Chih-yu. Shih, Chih-yu. "The West that is not in the West: identifying the self in Oriental modernity." Cambridge Review of International Affairs, Vol. 23, No. 4 (2010), pp. 537-560.
Soo, Francis. "China and modernization: Past and present a discussion." Studies in Soviet Thought,Vol. 38, No.1 (1989), pp. 3-54.
Tonnesson, Stein. "Orientalism, Occidentalism and Knowing about others." Nordic Newsletter of Asian Studies, No. 2 (1994), pp. 1-8.
Wang, Georgette. "Orientalism, Occidentalism and Communication Research." in Wang, Georgette. De-Westernizing Communication Research, (New York: Routledge, 2010), pp. 58-76. https://doi.org/10.1111/comt.12045
Wang, Ning. “Orientalism versus Occidentalism?” New Literary History, Vol. 28, No. 1 (1997), pp. 57-67. https://dx.doi.org/10.1353/nlh.1997.0013
********************************************************************************
حنفي، حسن. مقدمة في علم الاستغراب. القاهرة: الدار الفنية للنشر والتوزيع، 1991.
جاري، جويدة. "قراءة تحليلية نقدية في مشروع مقدمة في علم الاستغراب – للمفكر حسن حنفي"، مجلة الحكمة للدراسات الاجتماعية، مج3، ع1 (2015)، ص98-126.
كلية الشريعة والدراسات الإسلامية. "موسوعة الاستغراب"، موقع جامعة قطر، تاريخ الدخول: 1 سبتمبر، 2025، https://www.qu.edu.qa/ar/Colleges/sharia/partnerships/scientific-chairs/Pages/encyclopedia-of-wonder.aspx
لعبادلية، عائشة. "نهاية الاستشراق وبداية الاستغراب: قراءة في مشروع حسن حنفي الفكري – مقدمة في علم الاستغراب". مجلة هيرودوت للعلوم الإنسانية والاجتماعية. مج8، ع1 (2024)، ص361-374.
Al-Hamdi, Ridho. "Hassan Hanafi’s Epistemology on Occidentalism: Dismantling Western Superiority, Constructing Equal Civilization." Epistemé: Jurnal Pengembangan Ilmu Keislaman, Vol. 14, No. 1 (2019), pp. 73-106.
Almeida Filho, Naomar, and Coutinho, Denise. “Counter-hegemonic higher education in a remote coastal region of Brazil: The Federal University of Southern Bahia as a Case Study.” in Robert Aman and Timothy Ireland Educational Alternatives in Latin America: New Modes of Counter-Hegemonic Learning. Palgrave: Palgrave macmillan, 2019, pp.143-174.
Armayanto, Harda, Achmad Reza Hutama Al Faruqi, and Zain Naura Safira Salsabila “The Challenges Of Western Thoughts In Indonesia: A Study of Centre For Islamic And Occidental Studies (CIOS) Role,” MIQOT: Jurnal Ilmu-ilmu Keislaman, Vol. 47, No. 2 (2023), pp. 149-161. http://dx.doi.org/10.30821/miqot.v47i2.993
Aydin, Cemil. “Between occidentalism and the global left: Islamist critiques of the West in Turkey.” Comparative Studies of South Asia, Africa and the Middle East, Vol. 26, No.3 (2006), pp. 446-461.
Badarussyamsi, B. “Reframing Occidentalism: Purpose, Construction of Scientific Paradigms, and Reconstruction of Post-Orientalism Knowledge.” Journal of Islamic Thought and Civilization, Vol. 13, No.1 (2023), pp. 59-74.
Buruma, Ian. and Margalit, Avishai. Occidentalism: The West in the Eyes of Its Enemies. New York: Penguin Press, 2005.
Chen, Xiaomei Occidentalism: A Theory of Counter-Discourse in Post-Mao China, New York: Oxford University Press, 1995.
Cherkaoui, Tarek. "Orientalism, Pan-Arabism, and military-media warfare: A comparison between CNN and Aljazeera coverage of the Iraq war." (Doctoral Dissertation, Auckland University of Technology, 2010).
Cusick, James. "Cultural Characteristic Continuity: Basis for Rapid Foreign Scientific, Engineering, and Technological Transformation in Meiji era Japan (1868–1912)." (Master’s thesis, Polytechnic Institute of NYU, 2009).
Dirlik, Arif. “Chinese History and the Question of Orientalism.” History and Theory, Vol. 35, No. 4 (December 1996), pp. 96–118. https://doi.org/10.2307/2505446
Fangjun, Cao. "Modernization theory and China's road to modernization." Chinese studies in history, Vol. 43, No. 1 (2009), pp 7-16. https://doi.org/10.2753/CSH0009-4633430101
Ghalioun, Burhan. "Debate: The persistence of Arab authoritarianism." Journal of democracy, Vol. 15, No. 4 (2004), pp. 126-132. https://doi.org/10.1353/jod.2004.0062
Güven, Fikret. "Criticism to Edward W. Said’s orientalism." RumeliDE Dil ve Edebiyat Araştırmaları Dergisi, No. 15 (2019), pp. 418-430. https://doi.org/10.29000/rumelide.580700
Hadi Elaaf, Rajih. "The Impact Of US'Neo-Orientalism On The Future Of Nation-State In Iraq In The Light Of IS Crisis." (PhD dissertation, LUISS University of Rome, Italy, 2017).
Hanafi, Hassan. “From orientalism to occidentalism.” In: Kirsi Henriksson & Anitta Kynsilehto (eds.), Building Peace by Intercultural Dialogue. Finland: TAPRI, 2008, pp. 257-65.
Hanafi, Hassan. Muqaddimah fī ʻilm al-istighrāb (in Arabic). Cairo: al-Dār al-fannīyah lil-Nashr wa-al-Tawzīʻ, 1991.
Ikegami, Eiko. "Citizenship and national identity in early Meiji Japan, 1868–1889: A comparative assessment." International Review of Social History, Vol. 40, No. S3 (1995), pp. 185-221. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0020859000113641
Irwin, Robert. "The Real Discourses of Orientalism." In François Pouillion and Jean-Claude Vatin, After Orientalism, Leiden: Brill, 2015, pp. 18-30.
Ismail, Muhammad Arifin. “Sikap Pesantren dalam Menghadapi Paham Pluralisme Agama.” TOLERANSI: Media Ilmiah Komunikasi Umat Beragama, Vol. 5, No. 2 (2013), pp. 118-125. https://doi.org/10.24014/trs.v5i2.65
Jārī, Juwaydah. “Qirāʼah taḥlīlīyah naqdīyah fī Mashrūʻ muqaddimah fī ʻilm al-istighrāb (lil-mufakkir Ḥasan Ḥanafī).” (in Arabic). Majallat al-Ḥikmah lil-Dirāsāt al-ijtimāʻīyah, Vol. 3, No. 1 (2015), pp. 98-126.
Konuk, Kader. East west mimesis: Auerbach in Turkey. California: Stanford University Press, 2010.
lʻbādlyh, ʻĀʼishah. “nihāyat al-istishrāq wa-bidāyat al-istighrāb: qirāʼah fī Mashrūʻ Ḥasan Ḥanafī al-fikrī – muqaddimah fī ʻilm al-istighrāb.” (in Arabic). Majallat Hīrūdūt lil-ʻUlūm al-Insānīyah wa-al-Ijtimāʻīyah. Vol. 8, No. 1 (2024), pp. 361-374.
Matar, Nabil I. "The question of Occidentalism in early modern Morocco," in Patricia Clare Ingham and Michelle R. Warren, Postcolonial Moves: Medieval Through Modern. New York: Palgrave Macmillan US, 2003, pp. 153-170.
Metin, Abdullah. "Occidentalism: An eastern reply to orientalism," bilig: Journal of Social Sciences of the Turkic World, No. 93 (2020), pp. 181-202.
Muharram, Mohammed Abdullah Hussein. "Occidentalism/Orientalism in reverse: The West in the eyes of modern Arab intellectuals." Journal of American Studies of Turkey, Vol. 39 (2014), pp. 43-54.
Nader, Laura. “Orientalism, Occidentalism and the Control of Women,” Cultural dynamics, Vol. 2, No.3 (1989), pp. 323-355.
Prado, Ignacio M. Sánchez. Strategic Occidentalism: On Mexican Fiction, the Neoliberal Book Market, and the Question of World Literature. Illinois:Northwestern University Press, 2018.
Regina Chatruch del Río. “Criticism As An Answer To The Social Crise: The Example Of Sadiq Jalal Al-Azm, A Representative Figure Of The Secular Critical Thought In The Contemporary Arab World.” at the International Congress: ‘La Crise Des Sciences De l’Homme’. Algeria: University Abderrahmane-Mira, n.d.
Said, Edward W. "Orientalism," The Georgia Review, Vol. 31, No. 1 (1977), pp. 162-206.
Saleh, Yassin al-Haj and Weiss, Max. “The Intellectuals and the Revolution in Syria.” in Jens Hanssen and Max Weiss, Arabic Thought against the Authoritarian Age: Towards an Intellectual History of the Present. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2018.
Salhi, Zahia Smail. Occidentalism: Literary representations of the Maghrebi experience of the east-west encounter. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2019.
Sari, Darmelia Puspita, and Dinah Alifia Ainaya. “Counter Radicalism On Millennials (Case Study: Counter Radicalism In The University Of Darussalam Gontor Through Regular Study By Cios),” The Transformation of Global Challenges on Humanity Issues, Vol. 15 (2020).
School of Islamic and Occidental Studies (SIOS). “About SIOS.” Accessed at: https://sios.ac
Shands, K. W. Neither east nor west: From orientalism to postcoloniality. Stockholm: Södertörns högskola, 2008.
Shih, Chih-yu. Shih, Chih-yu. "The West that is not in the West: identifying the self in Oriental modernity." Cambridge Review of International Affairs, Vol. 23, No. 4 (2010), pp. 537-560.
Soo, Francis. "China and modernization: Past and present a discussion." Studies in Soviet Thought,Vol. 38, No.1 (1989), pp. 3-54.
Tonnesson, Stein. "Orientalism, Occidentalism and Knowing about others." Nordic Newsletter of Asian Studies, No. 2 (1994), pp. 1-8.
Wang, Georgette. "Orientalism, Occidentalism and Communication Research." in Wang, Georgette. De-Westernizing Communication Research, (New York: Routledge, 2010), pp. 58-76. https://doi.org/10.1111/comt.12045
Wang, Ning. “Orientalism versus Occidentalism?” New Literary History, Vol. 28, No. 1 (1997), pp. 57-67. https://dx.doi.org/10.1353/nlh.1997.0013
********************************************************************************
حنفي، حسن. مقدمة في علم الاستغراب. القاهرة: الدار الفنية للنشر والتوزيع، 1991.
جاري، جويدة. "قراءة تحليلية نقدية في مشروع مقدمة في علم الاستغراب – للمفكر حسن حنفي"، مجلة الحكمة للدراسات الاجتماعية، مج3، ع1 (2015)، ص98-126.
كلية الشريعة والدراسات الإسلامية. "موسوعة الاستغراب"، موقع جامعة قطر، تاريخ الدخول: 1 سبتمبر، 2025، https://www.qu.edu.qa/ar/Colleges/sharia/partnerships/scientific-chairs/Pages/encyclopedia-of-wonder.aspx
لعبادلية، عائشة. "نهاية الاستشراق وبداية الاستغراب: قراءة في مشروع حسن حنفي الفكري – مقدمة في علم الاستغراب". مجلة هيرودوت للعلوم الإنسانية والاجتماعية. مج8، ع1 (2024)، ص361-374.
How to Cite
Mseer, Ismail. 2025. “Occidentalism: Studying the West from a Non-Western Perspective”. Tajseer Journal 7 (2). https://doi.org/10.29117/tis.2025.0228.
Section
Articles in Arabic