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Edward Said's Orientalism is one of the most ground-breaking treatises in post-colonial studies. Since its publication in 1978, this controversial work has had a growing influence on different fields in humanities and social sciences such as colonial theory, feminism, anthropology, history, geography, travel literature, tourism and art. In view of this intellectual context, it could be said that fine arts played a clear and direct role in promoting colonialism. This was particularly evident after the French campaign in Egypt in 1798. British, French, and American military campaigns brought a number of artists who took upon themselves to picture the Eastern peoples in general, and the Arabs in particular as different exotic objects to be tamed and "civilized". There was a fertile ground for accepting such ideas as Western creative arts had already depicted the oriental man as a deviant, heathen and bohemian immersed in sex and pleasures, surrounded by maids and slaves. The last image may has come as a result of "Thousand and One Nights", translated by the French orientalist Antoine Galland in the beginning of the eighteenth century, as it had magical effect on most Western artists and writers. Taking its cues from Orientalist theory of Edward Said, this project deals with oriental themes implied by Western drawings and paintings related to Oman, as a place, people, and culture. From the Portuguese colonization of Oman in 1507 to the late twentieth century, an art discourse on Oman has developed. The goal of this project is to explore the images of Oman developed within the works of Western artists. In their representations, I locate Oman as a place, a people and a culture. Precisely, I am interested in looking at their attitudes, both positive and negative, to every aspect of life in Oman. I also hope to contribute to the literary criticism of Western discourse on the Middle East with a different perspective. Unlike Edward Said and his advocates, who homogenize Western discourse on the Middle East, in my project I propose that Western fine art on Oman is much more heterogeneous, ambiguous and discontinuous. My project argues that these works are neither homogenously biased nor impartial, but imply a mixture of diverse attitudes, depending on many factors such as the artists' background, motive of visit, time of visit, and kind of people encountered. The gap of knowledge that this project undertakes to fill is that most of the Western drawings and paintings related to Oman have not been studied in any context.
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Oman in 1970, with the advent of Sultan Qaboos bin Said to power, became a modern country. The Sultan worked on the establishment of a civil state based on the foundations of citizenship, equality and social justice. Education, health, human services and government positions, are available to all Omanies, regardless of their origins and sects. He also ordered the issuance of a cultural journal entitled Al-Tasamoh (tolerance), which began publication in 2003. Its main objective was to promote understanding and brotherhood among international societies. Religious tolerance, as we shall see in this paper, is deeply rooted in the Omani culture. This paper explores Western perceptions of religious tolerance in Oman. In the writings of Western travellers and missionaries, the theme of 'tolerance' will be traced.
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This thesis focuses on the images of Oman in British travel writing from 1800 to 1970. In texts that vary from travel accounts to sailors’ memoirs, complete travelogues, autobiographies, and letters, it looks at British representations of Oman as a place, people, and culture. It argues that these writings are heterogeneous and discontinuous throughout the periods under consideration. Offering diverse voices from British travellers, this thesis challenges Edward Said’s project in Orientalism (1978) which looks to Western discourse on the Middle East homogenisingly as Eurocentric and hostile. Chapter one explores and discusses the current Orientalist debate suggesting alternatives to the dilemma of Orientalism and providing a framework for the arguments in the ensuing chapters. Chapter two outlines the historical Omani-British relations, and examines the travel accounts and memoirs written by several British merchants and sailors who stopped in Muscat and other Omani coastal cities during their route from Britain to India and vice versa in the nineteenth century. Chapter three is concerned with the works of travellers who penetrated the Interior of Oman. James Wellsted’s Travels in Arabia (1838), Samuel Miles’ The Countries and Tribes of the Persian Gulf (1919) and other uncollected travel accounts, and Bertram Thomas’s Alarms and Excursions (1932) are investigated in this chapter. Chapter four considers the travellers who explored Dhofar in the southern Oman and the Ruba Al-Khali or the Empty Quarter. Precisely, it is devoted to Bertram Thomas’s Arabia Felix (1932) and Wilfred Thesiger’s Arabian Sands (1959). Chapter five looks at the last generation of British travellers who were in Oman from 1950 to 1970 employed either by oil companies or the Sultan Said bin Taimur. It explores Edward Henderson’s Arabian Destiny (1988), David Gwynne-James’s Letters from Oman (2001), and Ian Skeet’s Muscat and Oman (1974). This thesis concludes with final remarks on British travel writing on Oman and recommendations for future studies related to the subject. The gap of knowledge that this thesis undertakes to fill is that most of the texts under discussion have not been studied in any context.
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