The Disease of the West A Psychoanalytic Analysis of Arab Collective Neurosis

Description

In this book, which may be the first of its kind in Arabic, George Tarabishi lays down on the bed of psychoanalysis the contemporary Arab discourse afflicted by a complex of Western superiority that continues to worsen, a consequence of the compounding shock of the Napoleonic invasion of 1798 and the trauma of the 1967 defeat, which had a pathological effect on the Arab psyche, taking the form of a “collective neurosis.” Through a critical analysis of the positions of dozens of Arab intellectuals in their engagement with the dilemma of authenticity and modernity, and their reliance on the legacy of the past in the face of a painful present, Trabishi reveals the manifestations of regression in contemporary Arab discourse. He characterizes it, first and foremost, as a discourse of retreat from the tenets of the Renaissance, an abdication of historical action, a duality of vision, a search for magical solutions, an unconscious practice of sexualized symbolism, a revival of a childlike approach to the world, thinking in terms of desires rather than facts, and in terms of words rather than things. It stems from a psychological rather than an epistemological stance, and prioritizes control over the world of discourse over control over the world of reality. While this book adheres to a rigorous scientific methodology based on the foundations of psychoanalysis, it seeks to engage in the struggle to reaffirm belonging to the Renaissance in these times of regression, which are increasingly taking the form of an ideological pandemic and a psychological epidemic, a determination to sever ties with civilization, and an entrapment in a schizophrenic relationship with the modern age under the pretext of preserving authenticity and resisting Westernization.