20세기 중반 이후 서구중심주의 내지 오리엔탈리즘의 해체적 담론전략은 본격적으로 사이드의 『오리엔탈리즘』(1978)을 통해 촉발되었다. 그는 해체주의의 철학자 푸코(Michael Foucault)의 지식/권력 이론을 적용하여 서구중심주의 담론에서 서구가 자신과 타자인 비서구간의 차이를 서술하고 재현하는 과정임을 밝혔다. 즉 그는 푸코의 이론에서 오랜 지식의 생산과정 속에 이미 권력이 함축되어 있다는 전제하에 타자를 대상화하고 종속시키지 않으면서 재현할 수 있는 대안적 형태의 지식을 창조하고자 하는 담론을 구상하였다. 그 이전에도 이러한 시도는 푸코를 위시하여 리오타르(J. Lyotard), 데리다(Derrida), 들뢰즈(Deludze) 등 일군의 프랑스 철학계열의 해체주의자 및 포스트모더니스트들과 최근의 사이드의 오리엔탈리즘 및 탈식민지주의(postcolonialism) 연구자들에게서 발견되어 왔다. 이른바 지식의 대안적 형태의 지식을 재정의(定義)하기 위해 후설(E. Husserl), 메를로-퐁티(Mereau-Ponty), 하이데거(M. Heidegger), 레비나스(M. Levinas), 데리다(J. Derrida), 가다머(H-G. Gadamer) 등의 현상학적, 해석학적 전통의 철학자들에게 호소하기도 한다. 또한 현재적 의미에서 이 개념들은 데리다와 같은 해체주의철학자에게서 기존의 관념들을 지우개로 지우며 흔적을 없애야 한다는 이론을 통해 커다란 자극을 받았다.
오리엔탈리즘의 해체적 전략이란 기존의 동서양의 고정관념을 해체주의적 관점에서 재구성되어야 함을 뜻한다. 근대 이래로 서구인들은 동양을 가리켜 여성적=미개발=비문명적 존재로 여겨 왔으며, 서양을 가리켜 서양=남성적=개발=문명으로 간주해 왔다. 서구인들은 여성적이고 미개척적이고 비문명적 동양을 정복하고 개발하여 문명화하는 작업이라 여겼으며 제국주의적 침탈을 강변해 왔다. 육체/정신, 물질/정신, 주관/객관, 내면/외면, 표상/현전, 현상/본질, 본질/형상, 감성/이성 등의 전통적 형이상학의 이분법적 대립을 비롯하여 동양/서양, 여성/남성, 처녀/개발지, 빈곤/자본, 야만/문명 등의 이분법적 대비는 타자와 나를 구분하여 우리들을 알게 모르게 길들여져 왔다. 따라서 이러한 이분법적인 구분법이 이제까지 지속되어 왔다면, 이러한 “서구의 잘못 고착화된 오리엔탈리즘 인식”의 전환은 당연하다.
The deconstructive discourse of West-centrism or Orientalism really gained attention after the mid 20thcentury through Edward Said’s Orientalism(1978). Said applied the knowledge and authority theory introduced by Michael Foucault, a known deconstructive philosopher, to claim that the deconstructive discourse of West-centrism was a process used by a Westerner to describe and imitate the difference between himself and a non-Westerner. Thus, Said tried to formulate a discourse that would create a substitutionary form of knowledge that could replicate the difference between a Westerner and a non-Westerner, without Foucault’s assumption in materializing and classifying a subject based on the theory that authority already presides within the long history of knowledge. Even before Said, Orientalism and Postconlonialism studied and professed by French deconstructivists and post-modernists such as J. Lyotard, Derrida, Deludze attempted what Said’s Orientalism strived to achieve. Furthermore, phenomenologists and analysts such as E. Husserl, Mereau-Ponty, M. Heidegger, M. Levinas, J. Derrida, and H-G. Gadamer were called up on to rede fine the substitutionary form of knowledge. Finally, Said was thoroughly influenced by theories professed by deconstructive philosophers such as Derrida that went as far as to claim that such theories need to be completely erased without any trace to satisfy the present meaning. Orientalism’s deconstructive policy implies that the previously known stereotypical view of the East and West need to be reformulated from the deconstructive perspective. Since the modern times, Westerners have considered the East as a feminine; underdeveloped; and uncivilized being whereas the Easterners have viewed the West as a Western; masculine, developed; and civilized being. Under this impression, the Westerners believed that they have assisted the East in becoming more civilized by conquering and colonializing the feminine and unfound East. Including traditional metaphysical dichotomy, which include opposites such as the body/the mind; the physical/the mental; the subjective/the objective; the inner/the outer; the symbol/the actual; the representative/the represented; the represented/the figure; the emotional/the logical a different level of dichotomy such as West/East; Female/Male; Virgin lands/Developed; Poverty/Capitalism; Barbaric/Civilized has also become unconsciously familiar to us in differentiating me from the others. Therefore, it is evident that the "solidified erroneous impression of the West on Orientalism", as seen through such forms of dichotomy that have and still is being used to differentiate the West from the non-Westerner, will be corrected.
The deconstructive discourse of West-centrism or Orientalism really gained attention after the mid 20thcentury through Edward Said’s Orientalism(1978). Said applied the knowledge and authority theory introduced by Michael Foucault, a known deconstructive philosopher, to claim that the deconstructive discourse of West-centrism was a process used by a Westerner to describe and imitate the difference between himself and a non-Westerner. Thus, Said tried to formulate a discourse that would create a substitutionary form of knowledge that could replicate the difference between a Westerner and a non-Westerner, without Foucault’s assumption in materializing and classifying a subject based on the theory that authority already presides within the long history of knowledge. Even before Said, Orientalism and Postconlonialism studied and professed by French deconstructivists and post-modernists such as J. Lyotard, Derrida, Deludze attempted what Said’s Orientalism strived to achieve. Furthermore, phenomenologists and analysts such as E. Husserl, Mereau-Ponty, M. Heidegger, M. Levinas, J. Derrida, and H-G. Gadamer were called up on to rede fine the substitutionary form of knowledge. Finally, Said was thoroughly influenced by theories professed by deconstructive philosophers such as Derrida that went as far as to claim that such theories need to be completely erased without any trace to satisfy the present meaning. Orientalism’s deconstructive policy implies that the previously known stereotypical view of the East and West need to be reformulated from the deconstructive perspective. Since the modern times, Westerners have considered the East as a feminine; underdeveloped; and uncivilized being whereas the Easterners have viewed the West as a Western; masculine, developed; and civilized being. Under this impression, the Westerners believed that they have assisted the East in becoming more civilized by conquering and colonializing the feminine and unfound East. Including traditional metaphysical dichotomy, which include opposites such as the body/the mind; the physical/the mental; the subjective/the objective; the inner/the outer; the symbol/the actual; the representative/the represented; the represented/the figure; the emotional/the logical a different level of dichotomy such as West/East; Female/Male; Virgin lands/Developed; Poverty/Capitalism; Barbaric/Civilized has also become unconsciously familiar to us in differentiating me from the others. Therefore, it is evident that the "solidified erroneous impression of the West on Orientalism", as seen through such forms of dichotomy that have and still is being used to differentiate the West from the non-Westerner, will be corrected.