[Mahalingam]

Een andere aanrader is het boek Orientalism van Edward Saïd. Jouw visie op het Midden-Oosten is heel sterk door Orientalisme gekleurd, of je het beseft of niet.

Literatuur die Kallikles beter niet kan lezen want dan zou zijn denkwereld wel eens een deuk kunnen oplopen:

Debunking Edward Said

Edward Said is a frequently cited critic of how Westerners deal with the "orient" — both in terms of international politics and scholarly research. Are Said's critiques justified, though? Some may be, but many others are arguably mistaken because they are based upon errors, poor research, and incoherent text.

Debunking Edward Said

The latter work taught an entire generation of Arabs the art of self-pity – “ were it not for the wicked imperialists , racists and Zionists , we would be great once more ”- encouraged the Islamic fundamentalist generation of the 1980s , and bludgeoned into silence any criticism of Islam , and even stopped dead the research of eminent Islamologists who felt their findings might offend Muslims sensibilities , and who dared not risk being labelled “orientalist ”. The aggressive tone of Orientalism is what I have called “ intellectual terrorism ” , since it does not seek to convince by arguments or historical analysis but by spraying charges of racism, imperialism , Eurocentrism ,from a moral highground ; anyone who disagrees with Said has insult heaped upon him.

Edward Said and the Saidists:
or Third World Intellectual Terrorism