Orientalist Discourse in William Pickering’s Pioneering in Formosa: Recollections of Adventures Among Mandarins, Wreckers, & Head-Hunting Savages (1898)
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Date
2020
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Université Mouloud Mammeri Tizi Ouzou
Abstract
The present dissertation is entitled Orientalist Discourse in William Pickering‟s Pioneering in Formosa: Recollections of Adventures Among Mandarins, Wreckers, & Head-Hunting Savages (1898). It involves a postcolonial analysis of the manifestation of the Orientalist discourse in Pickering‟s travelogue. To approach my topic and reach my objectives, I opted for the theoretical guidelines set up by Edward Said in Orientalism: Western Conceptions of the Orient (1979) and Culture and Imperialism (1993) which corroborate my analysis as their assumptions concur with the dissertation‟s hypotheses. My dissertation focuses on three major ideas that centre on the idea of the consolidation of the European imperial enterprise in Formosa. The first concerns the binary opposition of the “self” and the “other” corresponding to the English and the Formosan aborigines, respectively. The second relates to the Orientalist representation of Formosa as a space that shall be conquered and saved from the hands of the Chinese. The last involves an analysis of the earlier civilising missions and the European imperial projects in Formosa. It also explores the extent to which the moralising ideologies such as the “civilising mission” and the “evangelic mission” serve to fortify English/European presence in Formosa. After analysing the travelogue, I reached the conclusion that Pickering is a promoter of British imperialism and the occupation of Formosa.
Description
30cm ; 68p.
Keywords
Binary Opposition, Civilising Missions, Imperialism, Orientalist discourse, Other, Postcolonialism, Self
Citation
Littérature et Civilisation.