Review of: Gabriele Dietze, Claudia Brunner, Edith Wenzel (Hg.): Kritik des Okzidentalismus. Transdisziplinäre Beiträge zu (Neo-)Orientalismus und Geschlecht. Bielefeld: transcript Verlag 2009.

Abstract

The essays in this collected volume analyze the self-conception of the western Occidental world, which stages itself in its distinction as superior to a supposedly oriental “other.” Occidentalism in this volume is not to be understood as a discourse placed in opposition to Orientalism, but rather the intention is to bring the Occidental “self” into theoretical focus through the examined reciprocity. Although the reviewer would have liked to see a stronger focus on the image politics of this discourse, this critique of Occidentalism excellently supplies helpful tools for the complex analysis of the (again) current virulent staging of the “Occident” in contrast to the “Orient.” It also offers a beginning for the establishment of this perspective in terms of interdisciplinary research.