Edward Said was a thinker who has made great contributions to the world intellectual thought with his studies on orientalism. 'Orientalism' as a concept defines East from the viewpoint of the West and it has brought big expansions to the social thought. However many Eastern societies, including Turkey, remained foreign to the thoughts of Edward Said on orientalism. These ideas have come to the intellectual agenda after his death as if they are not meaningful for the many people. In contrast, the thoughts of Said are very closely related to intellectual and political history of these countries. Until this day, the thoughts of Said are only summarized showing the lack of interest in our country. It is not thought the real meaning of the orientalism on the intellectual and political history in Turkey.

Even on the critics and studies about orientalism there is a lack of local points of views. The critics of orientalism which were produced in the West were the biggest part of the agenda on orientalism studies. The debates on orientalism in the international arena have not been taken with a different approach. An intellectual background could not be created for the politics which should be made on this area.

Everybody should face with itself knowing the image of East which is shaped by orientalist thinking and accept our reality with all dimensions. Now it is necessary to take into account the changing intellectual and cultural discourses in the light of the new developments in the world politics.

It is necessary to continue the heritage of Said and analyze orientalism deeply, to produce a platform in which Turkish and foreign intellectuals can debate and share their thoughts about the subject and transform our intellectual knowledge to a tool which open our minds on East-West debate.

The indicators of orientalism are not only limited to intellectual arena. In the areas like architecture, art, literature, music and divinity it can be found the indicators of orientalism. Parallel to the symposium there will be other cultural events which aim to show these orientalist views to be able to face with them.

Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality which has organized many intellectual activities, aims to contribute Turkish intellectual life by organizing International Symposium on Orientalism in memory of Edward Said.

"Orientalist Gravures" Exhibition

The field of art, and especially painting, was the main component that built the frame through which a certain type and image of the East was formed in the West. Both western artists who travelled to the East, and those who did not have the chance to see it, came up with work which eventually encoded the mind of the Western public. Today, Orientalist art preserves this status and position. The Orientalist view is extended via domestic and foreign sources. As long as art continues to be the mask that condemns the East as the authentic and the other in the eye of the West and prevents the understanding of the actual position of the East, it will never lose its importance and its role. At this point, as a visual contribution to the theoretical discussions of the symposium, an exhibition titled "Orientalist Painting and Gravures" will be held. The exhibition scope will include significant examples of domestic and foreign art.

IN MEMORY OF EDWARD SAID

INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM ON ORIENTALISM

Friday, December 8th, Opening Cocktail Party

Opening Speech /: 19:00-19:30

Prof. Þerif Mardin

"Perspectives and the Discussions on Orientalism in Turkey"

19:30-21:30 Cocktail

Saturday, December 9th

09:00–09:30   Registration

Exhibition Opening / 09:30-10:00

"Exhibition: Orientalist Painting and Gravures"

Protocol Speeches / 10:00–10:30

Opening Conference /  10:30–11:30

Prof. Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak

Orientalism" Today: The East-West Debate

Lunch Break / 11:30–13:00

1st Session / 13:00–15:00

In Memory of Edward Said: Rethinking on Orientalism

Chair:

Mehmet Genç

Participants:

Prof. Robert J. C. Young

Edward Said and the Ambivalences of Postcolonial Theory

Dr. Parvez Manzoor

'Worldliness' or Secularism? The Vision of History in Edward Said's Humanism

Assoc. Prof. Mahmut Mutman

Orientalism Revisited: Edward Said's Work Today

Assoc. Prof. Uður Kömeçoðlu

The Unbearable Lightness of Criticizing Edward Said

Prof. Fuat Keyman

Edward Said and Orientalism as a Critic of Modernity

2nd. Session /  15.20–17.10

"What Is Orient; Who Is Orientalist?"

Chair:

Prof. Jale Parla

Participants:

Dr. Boby S. Sayyid

From Orientalsim to Post-Orientalism

Assist. Prof. Ensar Niþancý & Emre Barcadurmuþ

From Classical Orientalism To Neo-Orientalism; Ýslam, Democracy and Great Middle-east Project

Assoc. Prof. Aslý Çýrakman

The West of Orientalism and the Orientalist Discourse

Prof. Meyda Yeðenoðlu

The Return of the Religious: Revisiting European Orientalism

Saturday, December 10th

3th. Session /:  10.00–12.00

Orientalism as a Historical Experience and Adventure

Chair:

Prof. Ýlber Ortaylý

Participants:

Prof. Roger Benjamin

The Port of Algiers:  Topographies of Memory and Power

Mahmut Gökmen

Modern mapping of Orientalism onto the Arab World: National Geographic Magazine, 1990-2006

Assoc. Prof. Ýsmail Coþkun

Confrontations With Other: Travel Literature and Orientalism

Dr. Ýbrahim Kalýn

"Seyyah Oldum Þu Alemi Gezerim":  Contributions of European Voyagers to the Orientalist Discourse

Dr. AbdoolKarim Vakil

Dramatic Boundaries: Imaginative Geographies of West and Islam in the Making of Contemporary Portugal

Lunch Break / 12:00–13:30

4th. Session / 13.30–15.10

Confrontations: Relations among Civilizations

Chair:

Prof. Turgut Cansever

Participants:

Prof. Hasan Hanafi

From Orientalism to Occidentalism

Prof. M. Mustafa Al-Azami

Why Muslims Must Reject the Authority of Orientalist Scholarship on Islamic Studies

Prof. Taghi Azadarmaki

Orientalism and the Methodological Misconceptions in the Iranian Studies

Assoc. Prof. Murteza Bedir

Orientalism and Islamic Studies

Coffee Break / 15.10–15.30

5th Session / 15.30–17.10

Orientalist Arts: Western Images on Imagined Orient

Chair:

Prof. Korkut Tuna

Participants:

Dr. Reina Lewis

Critical Engagements: Contestation, Solidarity, and Exchange in the Writings of Ottoman and Western Women

Dr. Mary Roberts

Counterpoints: Said, Art History and the Reinvention of Ottoman Ýdentity in Nineteenth-Century Ýstanbul

Prof. Zeynep Ýnankur

Caprices of Ýstanbul

Prof. Semra Germaner

Orientalism and Ottoman Modernity

17.10–17.40    Concluding Speech