TheOccidentis a term for the West, traditionally comprising anything that belongs to theWestern world.It is the antonym of the termOrient,referring to theEastern world.In English, it has largely fallen into disuse. The termoccidentalis often used to describe objects from the Occident but can be considered an outdated term by some. The term originated with geographical divisions mirroring the cultural divide between theGreek East and the Latin West,and the political divide between theWesternandEastern Roman Empires.
Etymology
editThe term "Occident" derives from theLatinwordoccidensmeaning "west" (lit.setting<occidofall/set). The use of the word for "setting" to refer to the west (where the sun sets) has analogs from many languages: compare the terms "Arevmutk" inArmenian:արեւմուտք(ArmenianArevmutkmeans "West" or "Sunset" ), "Ponant" (< Frenchponant"setting" ), “Dhisi” Greek:Δύση( < Greek “Dhii” Greek:Δύειmeaning “setting” ), "Zapad" Russian:Запад(< RussianzakatRussian:закат"sunset" ). In Arabic, theMaghreb"maḡrib"Arabic:مَغْرِب(< Arabicḡarbغَرْب"to go down, to set" ) literally means "the sunset", "the west". Historically, the Maghreb was the southern part of the Western Roman Empire. InIsiZulu,the term "Ntshonalanga" for 'west' means 'where the sun sets' and analogously the term 'Mpumalanga' means 'where the sun rises'.
Another word for Occident in German isAbendland(rarely: "Okzident" ), now mainly poetic, which literally translates as "evening land". The antonym "Morgenland" is also mainly poetic, and refers to Asia.
The opposite term "Orient"derives from the Latin wordoriens,meaning "east" (lit. "rising" <orior"rise" ).
History of the term
editThe adjectival term "Occidental" has been used to mean cultures, peoples, countries, European rugs, and goods from the Occident. "Occidental" means generally "western". It is a traditional designation (especially when capitalized) for anything belonging to theOccidentor "West" (for Europe), and especially of itsWestern culture.It indicated the western direction in historical astronomy, often abbreviated "Occ".[1]
In more local uses, "occidental" is also used for western parts of countries, especially in Romance languages. Examples include the "oriental" and "occidental" provinces ofMindoroandNegrosin the Philippines, and the FrenchdépartementofPyrénées-Orientales.
InOccidentalism: The West in the Eyes of its Enemies(2004),Ian BurumaandAvishai Margalitsaid that nationalist and nativist resistance to the West replicates Eastern-world responses against the socioeconomic forces ofmodernization,which originated in Western culture, amongutopianradicals and conservative nationalists who viewedcapitalism,liberalism,andsecularismas forces destructive of their societies and cultures.[2]While the early responses to the West were a genuine encounter between alien cultures, many of the later manifestations of Occidentalism betray the influence of Western ideas upon Easternintellectuals,such as the supremacy of thenation-state,theRomanticrejection of rationality, and the spiritual impoverishment of the citizenry of liberal democracies.
Buruma and Margalit trace that resistance toGerman Romanticismand to the debates, between the Westernizers and theSlavophilesin 19th centuryRussia,and show that like arguments appear in the ideologies ofZionism,Maoism,Islamism,and ImperialJapanese nationalism.Nonetheless, Alastair Bonnett rejects the analyses of Buruma and Margalit as Eurocentric, and said that the field of Occidentalism emerged from the interconnection of Eastern and Western intellectual traditions.[3][4][5]
Notes
edit- ^Hooke, Robert.1666.Drawing of Saturnin Philosophical Transactions (Royal Society publication) Volume 1
- ^Hari, Johann (2004-08-15)."Occidentalism by Ian Buruma & Avishai Margalit".The Independent.Retrieved2013-01-29.[dead link]
- ^Shlapentokh, Dmitry (July 2, 2005)."Changing perceptions".Asia Times.Archived from the original on January 5, 2019.Retrieved2013-01-29.
{{cite news}}:CS1 maint: unfit URL (link) - ^Martin Jacques (2004-09-04)."Review: Occidentalism by Ian Buruma and Avishai Margalit".The Guardian.Retrieved2013-01-29.
- ^"Occidentalism by Ian Buruma and Avishai Margalit".The New York Review of Books.2002-01-17.Retrieved2013-01-29.
Further reading
edit- Ankerl, Guy (2000).Coexisting contemporary civilizations: Arabo-Muslim, Bharati, Chinese, and West.INU societal research. Vol. 1. Global communication without universal civilization. Geneva: INU Press.ISBN2-88155-004-5.
- Hanafi, Hassan, Muqaddimah fi 'ilm al-istighrab (Introduction to Occidentalism), Cairo, Madbuli, 1991.
- König, Daniel G., Arabic-Islamic Views of the Latin West. Tracing the Emergence of Medieval Europe, Oxford, OUP, 2015.
- Souza, Teotonio R. de, "Orientalism, Occidentosis and Other Viral Strains: Historical Objectivity and Social Responsibilities", in The Portuguese, Indian Ocean and European Bridgeheads, Festschrift in Honour of Prof. K.S. Mathew, eds Pius Malekandathil & Jamal Mohammed, Fundação Oriente, India, 2001.ISBN978-81-900166-5-0.pp. 452–479.https://web.archive.org/web/20160422180612/https://pt.scribd.com/doc/30027278/Orientalism-Occidentosis-and-Other-Viral-Strains-Historical-Objectivity-and-Social-Responsibilities
External links
edit
- The Western Traditionhomepage at Annenberg/CPBArchived20 April 2019 at theWayback Machine– where you can watch each episode on demand for free (Pop-ups required)