Science Fiction by, about, and <i>for</i> Arabs: Case Studies in De-Orientalising the Western Imagination

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ReOrient

Volume 6, Issue 1

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Science Fiction by, about, and for Arabs: Case Studies in De-Orientalising the Western Imagination

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Author(s): Emad El-Din Aysha

Publication date (Print): 1 October 2020

Journal: ReOrient

Publisher: Pluto Journals

Keywords: Edward Said, pop art, Techno-Orientalism, classic Orient, Arabic science fiction, agenda-setting, male sexuality

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Abstract

Orientalism is a much maligned concept. While geared to the service of the Western colonial sense of superiority, Orientalism is, at base, a loose set of symbols and motifs that is more geared towards an introspective critique of the West itself. It represents certain internal antagonisms and Western anxieties that emerge in confrontations with the East over gender and sexuality. This becomes evident when it comes to Western science fiction (written and filmed) among other popular genres and specifically when applied to Arabs and Muslims (the “classical” East). Hitherto, most literature on the Orientalism evident in Western SF has focused on the Far East, via Techno-Orientalism and Cyber-Punk. The growing strength of Arab and Muslim SF, however, can counter these Orientalist tendencies in the genre; taking Egyptian SF as a test case. Western SF, moreover, can set its own house in order in the meantime, since SF allows for symbolic substitutes to existential threats traditionally posed by the East in the Western imagination.

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Journal

Journal ID (doi): 10.2307/j50009694

Journal ID (jcode): reorient

Title: ReOrient

Publisher: Pluto Journals

ISSN: 2055-5601

ISSN: 2055-561X

Publication date (Print): 1 October 2020

Volume: 6

Issue: 1 ( doiID: 10.13169/reorient.6.issue-1 )

Pages: 4-19

Article

Publisher ID: reorient.6.1.0004

DOI: 10.13169/reorient.6.1.0004

SO-VID: 049c73cf-805b-4f3f-9c64-ac7a0c98fbcc

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ScienceOpen disciplines: Literary studies,Religious studies & Theology,Social & Behavioral Sciences,History,Philosophy

Keywords: agenda-setting,male sexuality,Techno-Orientalism,classic Orient,pop art,Arabic science fiction,Edward Said

References

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Brunner, J. (1995) The Shockwave Rider. Del Rey, Ebook (accessed December 2017).
Asher-Perrin, E. (2019) Why it's important to consider whether Dune is a white savior narrative. 6 March. https://www.tor.com/2019/03/06/why-its-important-to-consider-whether-dune-is-a-white-savior-narrative/ (accessed March 2019).
Campbell, I. (2015) Science fiction and social criticism in Morocco of the 1970s: Muhammad Aziz Lahbabi's The Elixir of Life. Science Fiction Studies. 42 (1), 42-55.
Campbell, I. (2017) False gods and libertarians: Artificial intelligence and community in Aḥmad 'Abd al-Salām al-Baqqāli's The Blue Flood and Heinlein's The Moon is a Harsh Mistress. Science Fiction Studies. 44 (1), 43-64.
Csicsery-Ronay, Jr., I. (2002) Dis-imagined communities: Science fiction and the future of nations. https://www.academia.edu/9963551/Dis-Imagined_Communities_-_Science-Fiction_and_the_Future_of_Nations:1-22 (accessed October 2019).
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Comments

Comment on this article

[1] Abu-Lughod, L. (2002) Do Muslim women really need saving? Anthropological reflections on cultural relativism and its others. American Anthropologist. 104 (3), 783-90.

[2] Brunner, J. (1995) The Shockwave Rider. Del Rey, Ebook (accessed December 2017).

[3] Asher-Perrin, E. (2019) Why it's important to consider whether Dune is a white savior narrative. 6 March. https://www.tor.com/2019/03/06/why-its-important-to-consider-whether-dune-is-a-white-savior-narrative/ (accessed March 2019).

[4] Campbell, I. (2015) Science fiction and social criticism in Morocco of the 1970s: Muhammad Aziz Lahbabi's The Elixir of Life. Science Fiction Studies. 42 (1), 42-55.

[5] Campbell, I. (2017) False gods and libertarians: Artificial intelligence and community in Aḥmad 'Abd al-Salām al-Baqqāli's The Blue Flood and Heinlein's The Moon is a Harsh Mistress. Science Fiction Studies. 44 (1), 43-64.

[6] Csicsery-Ronay, Jr., I. (2002) Dis-imagined communities: Science fiction and the future of nations. https://www.academia.edu/9963551/Dis-Imagined_Communities_-_Science-Fiction_and_the_Future_of_Nations:1-22 (accessed October 2019).

[7] Cultural Salon for the Egyptian Society for Science Fiction (2018) Nasr City, Egypt, 2 March. [Arabic.]

[8] Determann, J. M. (2018) Space Science and the Arab World: Astronauts, Observatories and Nationalism in the Middle East. London: I. B. Tauris.

[9] Ferreira, R. H. (2016) How Latin America saved the world and other forgotten futures. Science Fiction Studies. 43 (2), 207-25.

[10] Iqbal, M. (2000) Islam and modern science: Formulating the questions. Islamic Studies. 39 (4). Special Issue: Islam and Science. Winter, 517-70.

[11] Lang, N. (1991) The Last Ramadan. Scranton, IL: Harpercollins.

[12] Lathers, M. (2009) Arabs, aliens, and women: The colonization of outer space in popular culture. Talk delivered at the American University in Cairo, 31 March.

[13] Lau, L. (2009) Re-orientalism: The perpetration and development of orientalism by orientals. Modern Asian Studies. 43 (2), 571-90.

[14] Morley, D. and Robins, K. (1995) Spaces of Identity: Global Media, Electronic Landscapes and Cultural Boundaries. London: Routledge.

[15] Pingree, D. (1992) Hellenophilia versus the History of Science. Isis. 83 (4), December, 554-563.

[16] Rieder, J. (2008) Colonialism and the Emergence of Science Fiction. The Wesleyan early classics of science fiction series. Middletown, CT: Wesleyan University Press.

[17] Rowe, J. C. (2011) Edward Said Memorial Lecture: American orientalism after Edward Said. Talk delivered at the American University in Cairo, 1 November.

[18] Rowe, J. C. (2012) Arabia fantasia: U.S. literary culture and the Middle East. Alif: Journal of Comparative Poetics. 32, 55-77.

[19] Rowe, J. C. (2018) Orientalism in Poe's early poetry. In The Oxford Companion to Poe. New York: Oxford University Press.

[20] Said, E. (1979) Orientalism. New York: Vintage Books.

[21] Shabanirad, E. and Marandi, S. M. (2015). Edward Said's orientalism and the representation of oriental women in George Orwell's Burmese days. International Letters of Social and Humanistic Sciences. 60, 22-33.

[22] Al-Sharouni, Y. (2002) Science Fiction in Contemporary Arabic Literature: Till the End of the 20th Century. Cairo: General Egyptian Book Organisation. [Arabic.]

[23] Temlali, Y. (2017) Email to the author, 30 November.

[24] The Beast Within: The Making of “Alien” (2003) Documentary, written and directed by Charles de Lauzirika.

[25] Ullman, W. (1970) A History of Political Thought: The Middle Ages. London: Penguin Books. Yalcinkaya, M. A. (2011) Science as an ally of religion: A Muslim appropriation of “the conflict thesis”. British Journal for the History of Science. 44 (2), 161-81.