Saidian Inputs to a (De) Colonial Law: On Revolutions and Odalisques Iconologies

Abstract

Applying the ideas of Edward Said about orientalism and the relationship between colonialism and culture we discuss the eurocentric opposition between the Western I and the Oriental Other We analyze works by European painters from the 19th century using both the compared and iconological methods to highlight the marginality of some images and the centrality of others We show that such representations are also found in Western law which acts as a discourse of the colonial power that is felt at the metropolis and at the periphery a discourse that still lives today and still finds resistance and opposition