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In this innovative study, Professor Tahar Labib seeks to understand how the 'Other' is viewed in Arab culture, and vice versa. Imagining The Arab Other examines how Turks, Europeans, Christians and Iranians have been represented in the arts, opinions and cultures of the Arab world. Conversely, it also explores the intellectual representation of 'The Arab' in other cultures. It demonstrates the central role of the Catholic Church in ascribing to the Arab peoples a set of characteristics associated with the 'Other'. Labib places this survey in the context of theoretical debates, started by Edward Said's 'Orientalism', on the construction of 'Other'. With its diversity of perspectives, Imagining The Arab Other offers a new way of understanding of identity and cultural difference in the Middle East, one which goes beyond the Orientalist / Occidentalist paradigm.
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00c Imag Arab_prelim_i-xii 8/11/07 13:59 Centre for Arab Unity Studies Page i Arab Association of Sociologists Imagining the Arab Other: How Arabs and Non-Arabs View Each Other Edited by Tahar Labib 00c Imag Arab_prelim_i-xii 8/11/07 13:59 Page ii Published in 2008 by I.B.Tauris & Co Ltd 6 Salem Road, London W2 4BU 175 Fifth Avenue, New York NY 10010 www.ibtauris.com Published in association with the Centre for Arab Unity Studies In the United States of America and Canada distributed by Palgrave Macmillan, a division of St. Martin’s Press 175 Fifth Avenue, New York NY 10010 Copyright © 2008 Centre for Arab Unity Studies All rights reserved. This book, or any part thereof, may not be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher. Library of Modern Middle East Studies 69 ISBN: 978 1 84511 384 1 A full CIP record for this book is available from the British Library A full CIP record is available from the Library of Congress Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: available Designed and Typeset by 4word Ltd, Bristol, UK Printed and bound in Great Britain by William Clowes Ltd, Beccles, Suffolk 00c Imag Arab_prelim_i-xii 8/11/07 13:59 Page iii Contents Preface List of Contributors v xi Part I: On the Otherness Question 1. The Other as an Historical Invention Jean Ferreux 3 2. Orientalism and Occidentalism: Invention of the Other in Anthropological Discourse Munzer A. Kilani 10 3. The Other’s Image: The Sociology of Difference Haidar Ibrahim Ali 17 4. The Other, the Self and the Idea of Citizenship Pierre Paolo Donatti 35 Part II: Behind the Borders: (1) The Arab View of the Other 5. The Other in Arab Culture Tahar Labib 47 6. The African in Arab Culture: Dynamics of Inclusion and Exclusion Helmi Sharawi 92 7. The Dialectics of the Ego and the Other: A Study of Tahtawi’s Takhlis Al Ebriz Hassan Hanafi 157 00c Imag Arab_prelim_i-xii iv 8/11/07 13:59 Page iv CONTENTS 8. The Other’s Image in Maghrebi Travel Writings Abdul Salam Heimer 183 9. Tunisia and the World: Attitude of the Young Tunisian to Other Countries Michael Suleiman 203 Part III: Behind the Borders: (2) The Other’s View of the Arab 10. The Image of Arabs and Islam in French Textbooks Marilyn Nassr 223 11. The Catholic Church and Islam Anzo Patchi 251 12. The Others’ Image: Real and False Fears in Arab–European Relations Sigurd N. Skirpekk 261 Part IV