Co-sponsored by the Ukraine and Decolonial Thought Common Course, the Human Rights Project, and the Anthropology, Politics, and GIS Programs Presents
Orientalism at War: Small Wars, Big Consequences
Tuesday, April 1, 2025
RKC 103
5:00 pm EDT/GMT-4
5:00 pm EDT/GMT-4
Tarak Barkawi, Johns Hopkins University
The big consequences for the West of losing "small wars" (like Algeria, Vietnam, or Afghanistan) are due to the constitutive role of "the Orient" in Western identities. This talk will discuss how these identities are committed, in diverse ways, to notions of Western vitality, strength and dominance over non-European peoples. There is no more obvious sign of Western weakness and "Oriental" strength than defeat in war or failure to obtain victory. Unsurprisingly then, such setbacks become sites of political and cultural disruption and production at all levels of Western society.For more information, call 845-758-7662, or e-mail msonevyt@bard.edu.
Time: 5:00 pm EDT/GMT-4
Location: RKC 103