REL 304(F) From Hermeneutics to Post-Coloniality*

This course examines the role of interpretation as one of the central issues in modernity. We start with hermeneutics, a theory of interpretation, focusing on the work of Gadamer. His philosophy offers a rich but problematic starting point in the analysis of the problems of understanding cultures that at first appear alien. A great merit of the hermeneutical approach is that it develops in us an awareness of our own cultural background and prejudice. Hermeneutics has also several blind spots, which we examine through the critiques of Derrida, Bakhtin and Foucault. Derrida alerts us to the danger of closure in hermeneutics. Bakhtin's view of language as heteroglossic exposes the limits and dangers in Gadamer's view of tradition as locus of meaning. Rather than think of tradition as unified, Bakhtin shows the pluralistic nature of culture. From Foucault we learn to question the relation between truth and power. Rather than focusing on the meaning of a discourse, we should analyze it in terms of the restrictive practices through which it is constructed. The second part of this course focuses on the role of interpretation in cross-cultural exchanges. We examine the ways in which the West has interpreted and mostly misinterpreted the "East." Said has brilliantly described this phenomenon as Orientalism, that is, the representation of odd and bizarre traits that seem to characterize Oriental cultures as ontologically inferior and epistemologically alien. We investigate the ways in which representations of Asian cultures have been constructed through a variety of material and disciplinary practices. We also consider the conditions and limits of representation, as well as the possibilities for critical inter-cultural exchanges. No prerequisites. Reading list: H.G. Gadamer, Truth and Method. H.G. Gadamer, Philosophical Hermeneutics. P. Rabinow, Foucault Reader. E. Said, Orientalism. J. Derrida, Of Grammatology. F. Saussure, Course in General Linguistics. M.M. Bakhtin, Speech Genres and Other Essays. M.M. Bakhtin, The Dialogic Imagination. T. Mitchell, Colonising Egypt. Hawley, Sati: The Blessing and the Curse. Requirements: full attendance and participation, three essays.

Hour:  DREYFUS