"Speaking Back to Orientalist Discourse" - Zeynep Celik

The text cleverly starts was a poem by the Turkish poet Nazim Hikmet that criticizes European imperialism. The poet was part of the Ottoman intellectual movement at the turn-of-the-century that spoke back to the Orientalist discourse. It was mostly against the many misconceptions there were. Celik's approach from the side of the Orientals was to show another side of the discourse. For example, the book Avrupa'da Bir Cevelan by the Ottoman writer Ahmed Mithad Afendi handles the stereotypical image that circulates about the Oriental women. He spoke against the European fantasy that they were like slaves only meant for pleasure. He gives us the real 'truth' and deconstructs that false hierarchy. 

The big first case study is on Ottoman painter Osman Handi. He studied in Paris so had influences of the school but still, he could provide a critique on major themes in the Orientalist paintings. He represented Islam for example as a religion that encourages intellectuals. But also women was an important factor in his paintings both in public and domestic scenes. He restores them their freedom and their place in society. The men also aren't represented as tyrants. Handi redefines the gender relationships in his paintings. The same goes for the cliché around the female oriental body. Hamdi didn't provide this mysterious, sexual side to his women. It was the opposite as shown in his Girl Reading. The composition remains us of Orientalist paintings but instead of laying down sensual, she is reading and surrounded by books. He definitely hints at her intellectual life even as a woman, a part that was always ignored by Europeans.

The second case study is focused on the photography albums that Ottoman Sultan Abdülhamid II ordered for the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition. These pictures show an image of the empire, at least the image the elite wanted: modernization. The big response to the European Orientalist discourse. It is kind of ironic because they wanted to show their modernization but eventually, it came too close giving an example of westernization. The palace for instance looked based on the Beaux-Arts style. There were two important themes in this series: that of industrialization and that of education. The latter needed to demonstrate the enlighten nature of Islam, equally innovative as other contemporary ideas, and the many women in education. 

The contradiction between East and West was harder to maintain in the colonial situation. Celik explains that "The colonial discourse that punctuated cultural differences also led to the construction of 'traditions' for colonized territories." This was notable in the architectural landscape. With the housing shortage in colonial cities, French architects based their buildings for the locals on documentation developed by the colonial discourse on the Northern African vernacular. So the final result is a mix of traditions and interpretations of them. 

Zeynep Celik last case study is on Delacroix's Les Femmes d'Alger dans leur appartement and how this is a metaphor for Europe's political power. "It represented the conquest of Algeria by entering the Algerian home." The Algerian writer Assia Djebar marked an interesting comparison with Picasso's Les Femmes de'Alger. he saw Delacroix as the beginning of colonization and Picasso as the ending. The sociocultural transformation is notable.