The study of Western representations of the Orient, since Edward Said’s seminal study Orientalism (1978), has rightly given much attention to the discourses of power implicit in the hegemonic Western ...approach to the East. My study addresses several crucial questions with regards to Western writing on the Orient, especially on Japan: In what way do late nineteenth-century and early twentieth-century marginalized (postcolonial) Others represent an Other? Does the Western post/colonial subject see the Orient as a force of transgressive possibilities? If so, what historical factors, desires, and ambitions drive that acceptance of transgression through the Other? Several critics of Hispanic and Luso-Brazilian literary and cultural studies have argued recently that turn-of-the-century Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking authors demonstrate an open and positive relationship with the Asian Other; these former supposedly engage in a dialogue that promotes diversity and respect. By taking into consideration the Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking author’s preoccupation with Empire, (re)building the nation, and situation as a Western Other, in addition to the fact that Japan was a world power by the beginning of the twentieth century, I reveal that the relationship with the Orient is more complex than most critics have shown. I argue that Iberian and Iberian-American writers, when writing on Japan, manifest simultaneously a critique of European imperialism/colonialism and at the same time, they participate in these same discourses of power. In the first part of my study, by focusing to a large extent on various authors’ desire for a return to Spanish and Portuguese traditional forms of empire and a desire to constitute themselves as a Western subject through a manipulation of the Asian Other, I give evidence for what is the unique brand of Iberian and Iberian-American turn-of-the-century orientalism. The second section of my study deals with Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking writers that look to Japan as an alternative model for improving the home nation and competing with the hegemonic European powers. However, I show how this model, based on traditional values, leads to discourses of sameness. In short, I demonstrate how the writings on Japan contribute to conservative and totalitarian discourses in the home country, whether it be Spain, Portugal, Brazil, Guatemala, etc. I pay special attention to the representation of the Japanese woman in these author’s writings because it is through her, a figure that in Western eyes often embodies not only the Japanese nation but the ability to maintain a nation’s tradition, that Hispanic and Luso-Brazilian authors outline a conservative discourse in their home country for “cleansing”, “extirpating”, and “improving” society of its ills in order to become strong again. The last part of my study borrows from Homi Bhabha’s elaborations on ambivalence and hybridity to highlight the moments in Iberian and Iberian-American author’s discourses on the Orient where the power structures break down. Furthermore, I outline transgressive moments in these same writers’s texts where there is a breaking of norms and acceptance of difference, perversion, etc.; what could be considered a ‘true’ opening up to the Other. By showing that Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking authors at once participate and diverge from orientalism (i.e. there is a revisiting and transgression of discourses of power), my study contributes to our understanding of the diverse manifestations of power that give a phenomenon like orientalism its strength and to the moments where it can be challenged. In short, my study draws attention to the complex contribution of ‘peripheral’ European nations to the orientalist debate and in particular highlights the unique nature of the Iberian and Iberian-American relation to the Orient.
The first essay of the book, "La sombra del Oriente en la independencia americana" (The Shadow of the Orient during America's Independence) by Hernán G. H. Taboada, traces the diverse ways in which ...the image of the Orient gets appropriated by Latin American authors (in negative and positive ways) during the wars for independence in the nineteenth century. The second essay, by Iorge Barrueto, "El Indio en las tarjetas postales: metáforas visuales del miedo y la ansiedad política en Latinoamérica" (The Indian in Postcards: Visual Metaphors of Fear and the Political Anxiety in Latin America), contains a critical analysis of the role of photography and postcards in essentializing indigenous groups in Latin America as a foreign, exotic, and often dangerous "oriental" Other. De Sena's essay carefully illustrates the ways in which Domingo Faustino Sarmiento, a member of the educated creole class in Argentina, created an orientalist discourse around their country's indigenous populations in order to further his own colonial projects for the newly independent nation.
The synthesis of a series of azabicyclic indole esters is described and their potency reported as 5-HT4 receptor antagonists. Optimization of the most potent compound (19) by preparing the ...corresponding oxazino3,2-aindole ester afforded 34, which had a pIC50 of 9.5 in the guinea pig distal colon longitudinal muscle myenteric plexus preparation.
