A non-orientalist representation of Pakistan in contemporary Western travelogues
Travel writings by Western visitors of the Orient have often been rebuffed for disseminating a stereotypical discourse on the people and the culture of the East. The rationale for the collective dismissal of such narratives, however, is built upon a limited canon whose myopic perspective creat...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Penerbit Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia
2022
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| Online Access: | http://journalarticle.ukm.my/20555/ http://journalarticle.ukm.my/20555/1/53161-191933-1-PB.pdf |
| _version_ | 1848815132425060352 |
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| author | Pourgharib, Behzad Hamkhiyal, Soleyman Asl, Moussa Pourya |
| author_facet | Pourgharib, Behzad Hamkhiyal, Soleyman Asl, Moussa Pourya |
| author_sort | Pourgharib, Behzad |
| building | UKM Institutional Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | Travel writings by Western visitors of the Orient have often been rebuffed for disseminating a
stereotypical discourse on the people and the culture of the East. The rationale for the collective
dismissal of such narratives, however, is built upon a limited canon whose myopic perspective
creates a monolithic Orient. It is argued that since this dominant discourse leaves nearly no room
for non-conformism, it has conveniently overlooked a large body of travel writings of western
writers that adopt a non-Orientalist approach to appreciate cultural differences. To pursue this
argument, the present study aims to explore Jürgen Wasim Frembgen’s At the Shrine of the Red
Sufi: Five Days & Nights on Pilgrimage in Pakistan (2011) to examine how the autobiographical
narrator’s travel accounts present an alternative narrative about the East that subverts prevailing
discourses on travelogues as apparatuses to reinforce colonial/Western norms. To achieve this
goal, the study benefits from Debbie Lisle’s (2006) theories on the cosmopolitan vision of a travel
writer as well as Edward Said’s (1978) theory of Orientalism. Frembgen’s cosmopolitan vision
throughout the narrative neutralizes negative perceptions about Muslim communities in Pakistan
as uncultivated and declining by offering a counter view of the country that underscores its vibrant
and positively transformative qualities. The celebration of Eastern culture and religion in
Frembgen’s travel writing indicates the need for the re-examination of the Orientalist thought that
has, wittingly or unwittingly, dismissed a significant segment of western works about the east in
order to legitimize its theoretical and hypothetical cases. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-15T00:45:07Z |
| format | Article |
| id | oai:generic.eprints.org:20555 |
| institution | Universiti Kebangasaan Malaysia |
| institution_category | Local University |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-15T00:45:07Z |
| publishDate | 2022 |
| publisher | Penerbit Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | oai:generic.eprints.org:205552022-11-27T16:56:23Z http://journalarticle.ukm.my/20555/ A non-orientalist representation of Pakistan in contemporary Western travelogues Pourgharib, Behzad Hamkhiyal, Soleyman Asl, Moussa Pourya Travel writings by Western visitors of the Orient have often been rebuffed for disseminating a stereotypical discourse on the people and the culture of the East. The rationale for the collective dismissal of such narratives, however, is built upon a limited canon whose myopic perspective creates a monolithic Orient. It is argued that since this dominant discourse leaves nearly no room for non-conformism, it has conveniently overlooked a large body of travel writings of western writers that adopt a non-Orientalist approach to appreciate cultural differences. To pursue this argument, the present study aims to explore Jürgen Wasim Frembgen’s At the Shrine of the Red Sufi: Five Days & Nights on Pilgrimage in Pakistan (2011) to examine how the autobiographical narrator’s travel accounts present an alternative narrative about the East that subverts prevailing discourses on travelogues as apparatuses to reinforce colonial/Western norms. To achieve this goal, the study benefits from Debbie Lisle’s (2006) theories on the cosmopolitan vision of a travel writer as well as Edward Said’s (1978) theory of Orientalism. Frembgen’s cosmopolitan vision throughout the narrative neutralizes negative perceptions about Muslim communities in Pakistan as uncultivated and declining by offering a counter view of the country that underscores its vibrant and positively transformative qualities. The celebration of Eastern culture and religion in Frembgen’s travel writing indicates the need for the re-examination of the Orientalist thought that has, wittingly or unwittingly, dismissed a significant segment of western works about the east in order to legitimize its theoretical and hypothetical cases. Penerbit Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia 2022-08 Article PeerReviewed application/pdf en http://journalarticle.ukm.my/20555/1/53161-191933-1-PB.pdf Pourgharib, Behzad and Hamkhiyal, Soleyman and Asl, Moussa Pourya (2022) A non-orientalist representation of Pakistan in contemporary Western travelogues. GEMA ; Online Journal of Language Studies, 22 (3). pp. 103-118. ISSN 1675-8021 https://ejournal.ukm.my/gema/issue/view/1539 |
| spellingShingle | Pourgharib, Behzad Hamkhiyal, Soleyman Asl, Moussa Pourya A non-orientalist representation of Pakistan in contemporary Western travelogues |
| title | A non-orientalist representation of Pakistan in contemporary Western travelogues |
| title_full | A non-orientalist representation of Pakistan in contemporary Western travelogues |
| title_fullStr | A non-orientalist representation of Pakistan in contemporary Western travelogues |
| title_full_unstemmed | A non-orientalist representation of Pakistan in contemporary Western travelogues |
| title_short | A non-orientalist representation of Pakistan in contemporary Western travelogues |
| title_sort | non-orientalist representation of pakistan in contemporary western travelogues |
| url | http://journalarticle.ukm.my/20555/ http://journalarticle.ukm.my/20555/ http://journalarticle.ukm.my/20555/1/53161-191933-1-PB.pdf |