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- Title
Representation of the West: A Postcolonial Analysis of a South Asian Traveler's Account in Images of the West - A Travelogue.
- Authors
Arafat, Yasir; Awan, Muhammad Safeer
- Abstract
The paper is a postcolonial analysis of the representation focusing "Images of the West" by Munshi Itesamuddin (1827) whose era marks the advent of the British Colonialism in the subcontinent whereas he stands an eyewitness to the events that subverted the power-relations between the colonizers and the colonized. The travelogue aims at re-presenting the worldview of the Indians, especially Muslims, not only to the West but to the fellow citizens as well. Viewed in the context of the colonial times, it is a kind of Representation by a South Asian Muslim traveler whose perceptions entail a latent aversion of the West. Unlike his claims in the very text, Itesamuddin appears to have carried out representation of the West in his travelogue which is colored by the socio-political, cultural, religious and literary traditions of the South Asian society he came from. The primary focus of this study is to analyze the discursive practices which pre-existed Postcolonialism and were later replicated, adopted and adapted by the colonized to write back to the West. The term representation, its differing connotations, facets and multipronged interpretations have been explored and the above work has been analyzed in the light of all these aspects. Munshi Itesamuddin employs various techniques and methods such as stereotyping, labeling, erasure, objectification and metonymic ways of representation to carry out the portrayal of his Western Others. Unlike Orientalism however, there was no single narrative governing his interaction with the West which he considers as cultural, racial, political, social and religious Other of the East.
- Subjects
SOUTH Asia; POSTCOLONIAL analysis; IMAGES of the West (Book); MUSLIM travelers; SOCIAL perception; ASIA description &; travel
- Publication
NUML Journal of Critical Inquiry, 2018, Vol 16, p42
- ISSN
2222-5706
- Publication type
Article