In an increasingly interconnected international context, in which geopolitical, cultural and economic dynamics bring the Indian Ocean back to the center of the global debate, it is at the same time appropriate and necessary to critically re-evaluate the conceptual categories through which the West has historically interpreted the East. In this framework, a rigorous theoretical engagement with the notions of Orientalism and Occidentalism emerges as an essential analytical step to examine the representational logics that continue to shape contemporary international relations, development strategies and cultural identities.
Defining the concepts of the Orient and Orientalism is crucial. These terms, among others, will constitute our main methodological framework within an analytical path. Based on field research, personal experiences and existing literature on the subject, the East is configured as a kaleidoscopic projection of the West – not a static reflection, but a dynamic prism. It exists in relation to the West and is shaped by it. This attempt at definition aims to broaden and integrate the diverse, evolving and interdisciplinary perspectives, which no longer describe this relationship as a mere static mirror, but as a complex and multifaceted sequence of representations. These sequences, composed of multiple images, are continuously reconfigured both in space and time within each representation.
Orientalism is the way in which the West perceives and, through this perception, constructs the East. Orientalism gave colonialism an enunciative authority that was perpetuated for generations through repetition and institutional entrenchment. Examining its etymology, we discover that the term Orientalism derives from Latin. In Latin, the East was called Oriens, an ambiguous and almost poetic term, which evoked the rising of the sun in the East. Consequently, from a geographical point of view, the East indicated the lands located in the eastern regions of the world – those that first saw the sun rise.
The term Orientalism, both in its etymological sense and as a conceptual framework in postcolonial theory, was born as an area of study during the Renaissance, reaching its peak in the nineteenth century together with structuralism, historicism and rationalism. At the academic level, the notion of Orientalism entered the debate in the twentieth century, when it was adopted with the emergence of critical theory within Western intellectual production. More than a tool for understanding the intrinsic nature of the East, Orientalism is configured as a revealing dimension of Westernism, functional to the acquisition of a broad knowledge on Eastern populations, states and cultures. According to these theoretical perspectives, as the West expanded beyond its territorial borders, it sought to acquire ever deeper knowledge of colonized regions in order to assert tighter control and dominance.
The historical narrative of the world was constructed by ignoring the richness and wisdom contained in oral traditions, perpetuating the centrality of the West. As a result, the histories of other civilizations were downsized, marginalized, and ultimately denied. Europe was thus presented as the pinnacle of civilization, and the Western way of life was quickly adopted by the Asian and African elites.
The transition from Orientalism to Westernism thus symbolized a change in the global balance of power. Through Orientalism, the East was introduced to Western intellectual and colonial frameworks. Conversely, the theoretical foundations of Occidentalism emerged as an alternative and counterpoint to Orientalism, focusing on the critique of Western representations elaborated in imperial centers. Occidentalism has often sprung from peripheral cultures as a challenge to the dominant narratives of the West, with the aim of fostering local cultural development free from subordination to the metropolis.
In this sense, Occidentalism can offer the potential for a new global consciousness and for an alternative critical paradigm aimed at rethinking the very concept of history.