Leiden University Student Repository

Basagni, Edoardo (2023)

Orientalism, Occidentalism, Post-Orientalism and the Boxer Rebellion

Master thesis | History (MA)

The past historiography on the Boxer Rebellion was often characterized by an Orientalist perspective. Contemporary literature strives to surpass this approach, however, treating Westerners and Orientals as two different “beings” and using two measures in the analysis, reiterates the same paradigm. Focusing on Jane Elliot’s revisionist approach, this work shows the post-Orientalism stemmed from the necessity of surpassing the classic Orientalism, more subtle and devious. By comparing the Chinese and the European vision of the other, Occidentalism and Orientalism in both writings and pictorial sources (such as Boxer postcards and nianhua), a more clear and more precise vision of the events is drawn. Thus, this thesis expands the current literature on the Boxer Rebellion and displays the necessity of considering both parts in order to have a complete picture.

Orientalism, Occidentalism, China, Boxer Rebellion

Author

Basagni, Edoardo

Faculty

Faculty of Humanities

Specialisation

Cities, Migration and Global Interdependence

Supervisors

Pluskota, M.

ECTS Credits

20

Language

en