Dislocating the Orient: British Maps and the Making of the Middle East, 1854-1921

by Daniel Foliard

While the twentieth century’s conflicting visions and exploitation of the Middle East are well documented, the origins of the concept of the Middle East itself have been largely ignored. With Dislocating the Orient , Daniel Foliard tells the story of how the land was brought into being, exploring how maps, knowledge, and blind ignorance all participated in the construction of this imagined region. Foliard vividly illustrates how the British first defined the Middle East as a geopolitical and cartographic region in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries through their imperial maps. Until then, the region had never been clearly distinguished from “the East” or “the Orient.” In the course of their colonial activities, however, the British began to conceive of the Middle East as a separate and distinct part of the world, with consequences that continue to be felt today. As they reimagined boundaries, the British produced, disputed, and finally dramatically transformed the geography of the area—both culturally and physically—over the course of their colonial era.
 
Using a wide variety of primary texts and historical maps to show how the idea of the Middle East came into being, Dislocating the Orient will interest historians of the Middle East, the British empire, cultural geography, and cartography.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Middle East

320 pages, Hardcover

Published April 13, 2017

Reviews

[isabel]

Read for my dissertation research.

Excellent book, highly valuable in terms of its evidence presented, arguments introduced and its analysis of a complicated period and region.

"The elaboration of maps, from fieldwork, and surveys to data compilation and engraving, participated in the rationalization and legitimation of authority on a territory in an age of expansion of the British world system. The cartographic discourse was therefore a decisive element in the process of the strategic reconfiguration of Britain’s role in the “Middle East.” The geographical framing of the Eastern Question, rooted in 18th- and 19th- century assumptions, was replaced by a regional entity constructed by experts." p.271

[I don't rate books I read for academic purposes.]