IIAS COURSE AND SEMINAR, MARCH-APRIL 1994

ORIENTALISM AND THE ORIENTS.
The Construction of Colonial Ethnography in West, South and South-east Asia.



The aim of this seminar is to provide, in four intensive sessions, an advanced
introduction to the critique of orientalism for students and teachers in
anthropology and history in the Netherlands. It is remarkable that, while
Dutch scholarship is intimately concerned with Asia, and Indonesia in
particular, the international critique of orientalism has rarely been
discussed in print by Dutch scholars working on Indonesia. This can partly be
explained by the fact that Edward Said's Orientalism (1978) concentrated on
the Middle East. As Ronald Inden argues (1990), there are more 'Orients' than
the one with which Said is mostly concerned. However, this did not deter
anthropologists and historians from engaging in lively discussions about the
general implications of Said's work (f.e. Clifford 1980; Fabian 1990).
Anthropologists and historians of India, in particular, are now providing
powerful additions to, and critiques of, Said's work (f.e. Bayly 1994; Dirks
1989; Inden 1986, 1990; Pinney 1988, 1990a, 1990b; Prakash 1990). But, barring
a few exceptions, orientalism was not taken to apply to the study of
Indonesian history and anthropology. One of the questions to be posed at this
seminar is why that is the case. 

The seminar will take Orientalism as its point of departure, and will work
towards relating Said's critique of orientalist discourse to diverse
historical circumstances and the history of India and Indonesia in particular.
The first three sessions have the character of a course. For each session, the
literature to be dealt with (which each participant is expected to read) will
be introduced by a scholar working on the field. These sessions aim at
creating a community of discussants thoroughly conversant with the literature.
Participants are asked to obtain a copy of the two books (Said; Breckenridge
and Van der Veer) themselves. Copies of the papers to be read in addition to
these books can be bought from the IIAS secretariat after registration.

The preparation for the topic during the first three sessions will, it is
hoped, lead to a high level of discussion during the closing seminar, in which
six scholars from the USA, England and the Netherlands will present papers on
the topics discussed in the preceding three sessions.

Registration and inquiries: Secretariat IIAS, Rapenburg 35, P.O. Box 9515,
2300 RA Leiden (071-272227).

PROGRAMME

Ist Session: Edward Said and his Critics.
Monday 14 March 1994, 15.00-17.00 hrs.
Room 003, Buildg. 1166, Van Wijckplaats, Leiden.

Chair: Peter Pels (IIAS, University of Leiden)
Introduction: Annelies Moors (VENA, University of Leiden)

2nd Session: Orientalism and India.
Monday 28 March 1994, 15.00-17.00 hrs.
Room 003, Buildg. 1166, Van Wijckplaats 4, Leiden.

Chair: Peter van der Veer (Religion and Society, University of Amsterdam)
Introduction: Peter Pels (IIAS, University of Leiden)

3rd Session: Orientalism and Indonesia.
Monday 11 April 1994, 15.00-17.00 hrs.
Room 003, Buildg. 1166, Van Wijckplaats 4, Leiden.

Chair: Jan Breman (Centre for Asian Studies, Amsterdam)
Introduction: Henk Schulte Nordholt (Department of Anthropology, University
of Amsterdam)

4th session: Seminar The Impact of Orientalism: Global Representations and
Local Power 
25 April 1994, 10.00-17.00 hrs.
Room 148, Buildg. 1175, Cleveringaplaats 1, Leiden.
10.00:    Reception, coffee
10.15:    Annelies Moors (VENA, University of Leiden): (title to be
          announced)
          Inge Boer (Belle van Zuylen Institute, University of Amsterdam):
          Mapping out (Un)certain Territories: Female Travellers and
          Ethnographic Writing
          Chair: (to be announced)
          Discussant: (to be announced)
12.00:    Lunch
13.15:    Nicholas Dirks (Department of History, University of Michigan):
          (title to be announced)
          Susan Bayly (Christ's College, Cambridge): Caste and Race in the
          Colonial Ethnography of India
          Chair: (to be announced)
          Discussant: Peter Pels
15.00:    Tea
15.15:    Elsbeth Locher-Scholten (Women's Studies, University of Utrecht):
          Orientalism as a Heuristic Model: The Colonial Construction of
          Gender in Indonesia (1900-1942)
          John Pemberton (Department of History, University of Seattle):
          'Java' Doubles: Disorienting Culturalist Assumptions
          Chair: Peter Pels
          Discussant: Henk Schulte Nordholt
17.00:    Refreshments; dinner.