Orientalism and the Eastern European Periphery

Main Article Content

Mihaela Mudure

Abstract

This paper starts by discussing the specific use of Orientalism in the Romanian culture. Focus is laid upon the Romanian scholar Dimitrie Cantemir (1673-1723), the first Christian historian who was allowed to use the Ottoman archives for his work. Then Ienăchiţă Văcărescu or Kelemen Mikes offer alternative Orientalist discourses. Unfortunately, Said’s seminal essay neglects everything that is East of Vienna in terms of Orientalism. Criticizing the binary opposition West-Orient, in fact Said reiterates it in his work by neglecting the Eastern European periphery. The conclusion is that Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) offers interesting examples of Orientalisms where the power relationships are constructed differently.

Article Details

How to Cite
Mudure, M. “Orientalism and the Eastern European Periphery”. Linguaculture, vol. 13, no. 2, Dec. 2022, pp. 105-21, doi:10.47743/lincu-2022-2-0319.
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Articles
Author Biography

Mihaela Mudure, Babeș-Bolyai University of Cluj, Romania

Mihaela MUDURE, Ph.D., is professor emerita at Babes-Bolyai University in Cluj-Napoca, Romania. She has been guest professor in Turkey and the Czech Republic. From 2015 to 2016 she was a member of the Beatrice Bain Research Group at the University of California at Berkeley. Dr. Mudure is interested in the British Enlightenment, modernism, postcolonial literatures, and the intersection between gender and ethnicity. Her publications include: Feminine (2000); Katherine Mansfield. Plucking the Nettle of Impressions (2000); Ethnic America (2008); Lecturi canadiene. Canadian Readings (2009); Alte lecture canadiene/Other Canadian Readings (2020). Dr. Mudure is also a versed translator from English and French into Romanian and from Romanian into English.

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