Reassessing Orientalism. Interlocking Orientologies during the Cold War

Orientalism as a concept was first applied to Western colonial views of the East. Subsequently, different types of orientalism were discovered but the premise was that these took their lead from Western-style orientalism, applying it in different circumstances. This book, on the other hand, argues that the diffusion of interpretations and techniques in orientalism was not uni-directional, and that the different orientologies — Western, Soviet and oriental orientologies — were interlocked, in such a way that a change in any one of them affected the others ; that the different orientologies did not develop in isolation from each other ; and that, importantly, those being orientalised were active, not passive, players in shaping how the views of themselves were developed.