Orijentalizam i nesvjesno
Orientalism and the unconscious

Summary/Abstract: This paper is concerned with the view of the Orientalist discourse through the prism of the psychoanalytic concept of the unconscious, trying to avoid a ‘clinical dimension’ of psychoanalysis, as well as Jung’s romantic concept of the unconscious, and primarily trying to take into consideration an approach that is characteristic of Lacanian school of psychoanalysis. Levi-Strauss’s concept of the unconscious as a kind of syntax or code that governs signals within a certain system has also been taken into consideration. The first part of this paper deals with the construction of the Orient, and tries, through the above-mentioned prism, to read certain techniques that are characteristic of the Orientalist discourse, like representing, classifying, inferring subsequently, etc. The second part of the paper tries to draw a parallel between Orientalism and myth, and to find out the ideological nature of the Orientalist discourse (the logic of binary opposites, descriptivism vs. antidescriptivism, cynicism, performative dimension of discourse, etc.). The third part of the paper discusses the relationship between Orientalism and culture. Freud’s concept of unease in culture (the principle of reality and principle of satisfaction, concept of otherness and concept of different culture, etc.) has been taken into consideration in discussing this relationship. The final part offers a brief comment on the critique of Said’s approach to Orientalism.

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