NCJ Number
183284
Journal
British Journal of Criminology Volume: 40 Issue: 2 Dated: Spring 2000 Pages: 239-260
Date Published
2000
Length
22 pages
Annotation
The difficulties of teaching criminology in a society that defines itself as non-western derive both from lack of materials and the lack of a theory; the diagnosis for these difficulties lies in two persistent problems: "orientalism" and "occidentalism."
Abstract
"Orientalism" involves the discursive constitution of an often romanticized but also wayward and unknowing "other," which, because of these characteristics, requires the guidance and advice of the "us" to find and/or accept its proper place in the world. Currently, this usually means a relatively subordinate place in an uncontrolled global market that requires, in order to function properly, long-term order and predictability, as well as the security of property in all its sites of production and exchange. In Trinidad and Tobago, and the Caribbean an even more problematic tendency of western scholarship and international indirect governance has been "occidentalism." The opposite of "orientalism," occidentalism presumes the "sameness" of key cultural categories, practices, and institutions. There is thus a constant misdiagnosis of problems leading, on occasion, to a misallocation of scarce resources. Moreover occidentalism, like the earlier diagnosed orientalism, may be exported to those whom the occidentalist discourses purport to describe. Both discourses have hegemonic tendencies, and both discourses can be found within the broad subject matter of contemporary criminology. This paper first offers a single example of orientalism in criminology and then identifies examples of occidentalist criminology in the context of Caribbean discourse and practice. In a brief discussion of the security of Caribbean women, the author argues that an avoidance of these two discursive aberrations can enhance both practice and understanding. The concluding section suggests a more modest agenda than "comparison" in transnational work, but an agenda that paradoxically may lead to more theoretically useful abstractions. 51 references