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Coordination: Ana Paula Laborinho
ORION. Portuguese Orientalism in literature and other arts (19th-20th centuries)
Portugal has developed a long tradition of travel writing ever since the Discoveries. In the 16th and 17th centuries, the first Western images of China and Japan were spread across Europe through Portuguese writing, presenting those places as utopian societies. Since then, the representation of the Far East - the so-called "Orient" - has been an ongoing topic not only in travel writing but also in painting, music, and other arts. Since late 18th century Europe has undergone an "Oriental Renaissance" which culminated in the 19th and early 20th centuries with the expansion of European empires in Asia. This imperial relationship reshaped Orientalism as part of the European material civilization and culture. Said's Orientalism considers the artistic experience of British, French and American empires as an unit, which in our view could also comprise the Portuguese Empire. The Portuguese colonial empire just ended a few years ago, with the handover of Macao to China in 1999, and it is now possible to study Portuguese Orientalism in a postcolonial perspective. Macao represents an important topic in this research project in view of its past geographic relevance as interface between worlds (China, Japan, India, and Europe), but also in view of the symbolic meaning of "macao" as door/harbour (porta/porto) as explored by artistic achievements. Considering this new approach to Portuguese Orientalism, this research project intends to focus on the following topics:- Orientalism as an European aestheticism (19th and early 20th centuries)- Orientalism and empire- Interart Studies: representations of the Far East- Writing Macao. |
