Making England Western

Making England Western: Occidentalism, Race and Imperial Culture (2014) is a new scholarship undertaken by Saree Al Makdisi that brings a somewhat oppositional standpoint to Edward Said’s enterprise in Orientalism and Culture and Imperialism. Al Makdisi offers his reading of some of the Romantic period literary works such as Mansfield Part in which he propose a different argument based on his historically-based investigation that holds the existence of internal civilizing mission in Britain as well as the colonies. Therefore, Al Makdisi argues that works such as Mansfield Park that is seen by some critics as literature of colonialism are reflections of the Romantic writers’ quest for implementing a comprehensive transformations in the British Society.   

Making England Western: Occidentalism, Race and Imperial Culture (2014) is a new scholarship undertaken by Saree Al Makdisi that brings a somewhat oppositional standpoint to Edward Said’s enterprise in Orientalism and Culture and Imperialism. Al Makdisi articulates his reading of some of the Romantic period literary works such as Mansfield Part in which he propose a different argument based on his historically-based investigation that holds the existence of internal civilizing mission in Britain as well as the colonies in 19th century. Therefore, Al Makdisi argues that works such as Mansfield Park that is seen by some critics as literature of colonialism are reflections of the Romantic writers’ quest for implementing a comprehensive transformations in the British Society.