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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Dear Tobias and list members,</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>This question seems to be obviously related to
"Language Change". And the academia turns out to be a very conservative place in
retaining a certain terminology. The following passage comes from´"Language
History, Language Change, and Language Relationship" by Hans H. Hock and Brian
Joseph (1996:4-5, de Gruyter):</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>"At a recent meeting of the American Oriental
Society the proposal was made to rename the organization: It was argued that
although the Society is dedicated to the languages, literatures and cultures of
ALL of Asia, from Israel and Palestine to China and Japan, its name suggests an
interest only in the Far East. The proposal was greeted with disbelief, even
outrage, and was quickly voted down."</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>It is true that for many speakers of North American
English the term 'oriental' has now a negative connotation. I cannot write
down all the interesting points found in the above book with respect
to 'Language Change', but one interesting observation the authors
make is that (the scholars of the Society) "probably were
outraged at the intrusion of the non-scholarly connotation that oriental had
acquired".</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>These authors also stress the fact that "America
has become more independent in its thinking from Europe". Thus, the liberal
thinking in interpreting the term 'oriens' is that in North
America the sun does not rise in the Near East anymore, but in the Atlantic
Ocean.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>I wonder if some of the negative meanings this
word carries are also visible in the Old World. My colleage (A. Huwe)
confirms that the German equivalent 'orientalisch' does not bear such
meanings. The German word is also claimed to be associated with
some motives like Arabian Nights. Our seminar at which we work is
called 'Seminar fuer Orientalische Sprachen' covering Near
Eastern Studies and East Asia. There is also an interesting
term 'morgenlaendisch (coined from Greek by M. Luther)' in German.
</FONT><FONT face=Arial size=2>So things are not clean-cut.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Some of interesting arguments about why one
should avoid the problematic English expression, you find in the following
site:</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2> </FONT><A
href="http://www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/Lobby/2788/oriental.html">http://www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/Lobby/2788/oriental.html</A></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>I hope this helps the discussion.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Sang Hwan SEONG</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Korean Department</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Seminar f. Orientalische Sprachen</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Univ. of Bonn</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2> </FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
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style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<DIV
style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: black"><B>From:</B>
<A title=vladimir.tikhonov@east.uio.no
href="mailto:vladimir.tikhonov@east.uio.no">Vladimir Tikhonov</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A title=Koreanstudies@koreaweb.ws
href="mailto:Koreanstudies@koreaweb.ws">Koreanstudies@koreaweb.ws</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Wednesday, May 07, 2003 3:57
PM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> Re: [KS] Does "the Orient" still
exist?</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>Dear Tobias,<BR><BR>Perhaps, it would be helpful to remind you
that - as E.Said himself stressed several times - "Orientalism" could mean not
only the assertion of the "Oriental Other"'s inferiority, but also a very
strong tendency to romanticize the "Oriental Other", to seek for "wisdom" or
"truth" - presumably lost by the "West" - in the "Orient". In Russian 20th C.
tradition, a typical romantic "Orientalist" was great artist and Buddhist
thinker, Nikolai Rerikh (a person of Scandinavian ancestry, by the way), who
spent the last half of his life in India, painting Tibetan landscapes and
befriending the personages like J.Nehru. A kind of "Sinolatry" was a feature
of Russian Chinese studies - Academician V.Alekseev spent lots of inks proving
that Taoism was superior to any Western philosophy, and not only him. To
simply reject the word "oriental" as "imperialist vestige" feels like the
notorious "class battles" against "bourgeois reactionaries" in 1920s Soviet
academia. The faculty I graduated from in St-Petersbourg, remains "Oriental" -
and, I guess, will not change the name.<BR><BR>Yours,<BR><BR>Vladimir
<BR><BR><BR>At 09:44 07.05.2003 +0200, you wrote:<BR>
<BLOCKQUOTE class=cite cite type="cite">I need help to find strong arguments
for a change of name of Sweden's main Asian studies department, the
Department of Oriental languages at Stockholm University, where many faculty
members proudly and gladly use academic terms like "oriental", "the Orient"
and "orientals". After having proposed a change to the Department of Asian
languages a discussion has started with the faculty members being divided
according to the following more or less expected lines where the former
group influenced by postcolonial thinking wants a change in the name of
antiracism, while the latter sees themselves as defenders of the Western
academic tradition of "Orientalism":<BR><BR>Very strong divisions:<BR>-
ethnic Asians against ethnic Westerners<BR>- PhD candidates and research
assistants against associate professors and professors<BR>- people born in
the 1960s/1970s/1980s against those born in the 1930s/1940s/1950s<BR><BR>As
so many of the defenders refer to the countries of England and France where
"Oriental Studies" and "Orientalism" still is the accepted scientific term,
could someone help me with the background on how Oriental Studies was
transformed into Asian Studies in a North American setting (including a
possible parallel to how "Negro Studies" was transformed into African
Studies already some 30 years ago) as well as some information on how the
term is perceived outside the West among the Asians themselves? Or is it
that I am wrong - that terms like "oriental", "the Orient" and "orientals"
aren't that contested and controversial as I presume?<BR><BR><BR>Best,<BR>--
<BR><BR><BR>Tobias Hübinette a.k.a. Lee Sam-dol<BR><BR>Ph.D. candidate in
Korean studies<BR>Department of Oriental languages<BR>Stockholm
University<BR>SE-106 91 Stockholm<BR>Sweden<BR><BR>Tel: 46-8-16 15
88<BR>Fax: 46-8-15 54 64<BR>E-mail:
tobias@orient.su.se<BR><BR>Presentations:<BR>Department of Oriental
languages: <A href="http://www.orient.su.se/koreanskapersonal.html"
eudora="autourl">www.orient.su.se/koreanskapersonal.html</A><BR>Info Portal
Asia: <A href="http://www.sub.su.se:591/sidor/forskning/koreaforsk/tobias/"
eudora="autourl">www.sub.su.se:591/sidor/forskning/koreaforsk/tobias/</A><BR><BR></BLOCKQUOTE><X-SIGSEP>
<P></X-SIGSEP>Vladimir Tikhonov,<BR>Department of East European and Oriental
Studies,<BR>Faculty of Arts,<BR>University of Oslo,<BR>P.b. 1030, Blindern,
0315, Oslo, Norway.<BR>Fax: 47-22854140; Tel: 47-22857118<BR>Personal web
page: <A href="http://www.geocities.com/volodyatikhonov/volodyatikhonov.html"
eudora="autourl">http://www.geocities.com/volodyatikhonov/volodyatikhonov.html</A><BR>Electronic
classrooms: East Asian/Korean Society and
Politics:<BR>
<A href="http://www.geocities.com/uioeastasia2002/main.html"
eudora="autourl">http://www.geocities.com/uioeastasia2002/main.</A><A
href="http://www.geocities.com/uioeastasia2002/main.html"
eudora="autourl">html<BR></A>
East Asian/Korean Religion and
Philosophy:<BR>
<A href="http://www.geocities.com/uioeastasia2003/classroom.html"
eudora="autourl">http://</A>www.geocities.com<A
href="http://www.geocities.com/uioeastasia2003/classroom.html"
eudora="autourl">/uioeastasia2003/classroom.html</A><BR>
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