Comments on: Encyclopaedia of the Orient

Encyclopaedia of the Orient

flapjax at midnite — Sat, 19 Aug 2006 06:59:27 -0800

From Abadan to Zurvanism, The Encyclopaedia of the Orient is your one-stop shopping mecca for bite-sized info-bits on North Africa and the Middle East.

By: riotgrrl69

riotgrrl69 — Sat, 19 Aug 2006 07:08:10 -0800

Very nice. Moreish. But who calls North Africa the Orient anyway?

By: flapjax at midnite

flapjax at midnite — Sat, 19 Aug 2006 07:17:38 -0800

"But who calls North Africa the Orient anyway?" Yeah, if I was running this site I think I'd change "Orient" to "the Islamic World". Or something else... I do like how they use the "ae" spelling of ecyclopaedia, though. Hey, they're old world!

By: nickyskye

nickyskye — Sat, 19 Aug 2006 07:45:22 -0800

Good point about the use of the word Orient. A little about the evolution of the Encyclopaedia. Excellent post, useful site. That site offers a free online course in Arabic for beginners. LexicOrient has a "loose cooperation" with AfrolNews, a portal for info about the rest of Africa. There are practical definitions of things, like Hamas.

By: owhydididoit

owhydididoit — Sat, 19 Aug 2006 07:54:37 -0800

Yummy bite-sized bits! Thanks!

By: mulligan

mulligan — Sat, 19 Aug 2006 08:00:42 -0800

Flapjax: If you called it the islamic world, you'd be leaving out substantial regions of the world where the bulk of the muslim population is, including countries such as pakistan, indonesia, china, and malaysia. Maybe you mean Arab world? (but then you'd need to remove Turkey and Iran)

By: flapjax at midnite

flapjax at midnite — Sat, 19 Aug 2006 08:05:23 -0800

Mulligan: Good point! Maybe "Orient" is the best word after all.

By: thirteenkiller

thirteenkiller — Sat, 19 Aug 2006 08:20:47 -0800

How about "Encyclopedia of North Africa and the Middle East"

By: Slithy_Tove

Slithy_Tove — Sat, 19 Aug 2006 08:32:16 -0800

'Orient' has become a dirty word in recent years, probably due to Said's 'Orientalism' ideas. Some organizations with 'Orient' in their names have changed names because of this. At one time, even North Africa fell under the term 'Orient' in the Western popular imagination. In the era of the pulps, there was sub-genre of pulp fiction called 'Oriental Adventure', in which the story setting could be anywhere from North Africa to China. Good resource, flapjax. Thanks for the post!