Comparative Studies; the Outcome of the Orientalist Discourse

Aimed at studying the backgrounds of comparative studies, the present paper focuses on comparative studies in relation to the historical development of Orientalism. Comparative studies particularly expanded over the past decade throughspecialist publications. However, this topic can be discussed and reviewed in several respects and it requires critical revisions as well. Moreover, it deserves a critical re-reading in many respects. There are new academic disciplines based on comparative studies, including analytical and comparative histories of Islamic art –currently problematic and ambiguous disciplines– and of course comparative literature, which can be considered as the formative ground for comparative studies. Nonetheless, this specialismis considered in mainstream research methodology as a research method, whereas the history of its emergence shows that comparative studies have initially been a method of encountering chr('39')the otherchr('39') from the viewpoint of the Western subject, and not a method or an academic discipline. Accordingly, understanding the philosophy ofcomparative studies and its related theories, and applying them in literature and art, requires first and foremost a knowledge of the origins and contexts of its formation.