Morier’s Hajji Baba and Post-Colonial Orientalism

Subject Areas : شعر

Farid Ghaemi ¹ , Fatemeh Esmaeili ²

1 - Faculty Member, Islamic Azad University, Karaj Branch
2 - Graduated in English Literature, Islamic Azad University, Karaj Branch

Received: 2012-09-19 Accepted : 2012-09-19 Published : 2010-05-01

Keywords: غرب, اسلام, Islam, بازنمایی, Representation, شرق, شرق شناسی, گفتمان استعماری, موریه, رمان ماجراهای حاجی بابا اصفهانی, Orientalism, the Orient, the Occident, Colonial discourse, Morier, The adventures of Hajji Baba of Ispahan,

Abstract :

The adventures of Hajji Baba of Ispahan by James Morier is a representation of the colonized Orient. The researchers have endeavored to trace the Orientalist intentions which lie beneath the text. It reveals how the representation of the Orient and Oriental culture goes hand in hand with Imperialism in the novel. In Morier, particularly, two factors of diplomacy and writing have been integrated in one activity aiming at colonialism, which leads to the emergence of the colonial discourse concerning the inferiority and marginalization of the Orient. The present article is also an attempt to study the Occidentals’ views about the Orient as well as analyze the question of Islam. Furthermore, the following questions are explored: Through what images and discourse are the Orient and the Orientals represented? Are the Orientals and Muslims represented as the “Other”? What is the possible relationship between Hajji Baba and Imperialism?As a result, Westerners through a kind of Binary Opposition define themselves as the superior center in the world. Finally, it unveils how a nineteenth- century novel serves the discrimination in the twentieth century. Moreover, the reasons and foundations of Orientalism are highlighted and a number of cultural-social solutions are dedicated.