Discovering the Colonial Discourse in Lawrence in/of Arabia: A Postcolonial Reading

Abstract

Middle Easterners and Arabs are frequently depicted as backward, inferior, and primitive in Western literature and media. One of the works which focuses on the lives of the Arabs is the novel Lawrence in Arabia (2013) by Scott Anderson. Although the author has spent some time in the region that he has depicted, his descriptions consist of stereotypical generalizations about the Arabs. Hence, this study tries to investigate the partial intentions of the author throughout his novel. Moreover, the influences of media and Western sources about the Arabs' lives in his work are traced. To support its claims, the thesis sheds light on the discourse of the novel with the help of Foucault's definition of “Discourse”, Said's “Orientalism”, and Bhabha's “Stereotype”. These concepts help this study display how the novel presents the Arabs as exploited, marginalized, inferior, and in need of control in every aspect of their lives (i.e. cultural, social, economic, and political). Also, it is discussed how the author, as a colonizer, stereotypes the colonized in his text. In addition, the study tries to find the same trend in Lean’s movie, Lawrence of Arabia (1962) and show how it influences Anderson’s view on representing the Arabs. Consequently, the findings prove that Anderson is influenced by the Western sources in his writing and media has a significant role in transferring a degrading picture of the Arab to its audience.

Keywords: Discourse, Orientalism, Other, Middle East, Stereotype, Postcolonialism, Scott Anderson’s Lawrence in Arabia (2013), David Lean’s Lawrence of Arabia (1962).

DOI: 10.7176/JEP/10-15-10

Publication date:May 31^st 2019