The Alienation of the Arab Self, Past Patterns and Others' Trends in "Migration to the North" Season

Abstract

The viewpoints of critics and scholars differ on what to take as a starting
point for renewal. Are we standing on a solid ground of our precious heritage?
Is any act of seeing the present through the mirror of the past viewed as
backward step in the course of civilization? Is our heritage a barrier, between
our culture and other cultures, which does not allow us to influence them or
be influenced by them? Is it a safety valve which keeps us away from being
subordinate to others and from losing our authentic identity? Does the
Western culture represent an advanced step in the ladder of development?
Does it represent the ecstasy of destroying authentic values and tremendous
admiration for it? Is there a contradiction between our attempt to contribute to
building a comprehensive human civilization and preserving our authentic
identity? Is universality and national identity contradictory?
These and similar and interrelated questions constitute a logical and
intellectual argument which arouses problematic issues, the most important of
which are:
- The relationship between originality and heritage, and between
contemporaneity and Western thought
- The search for identity
- Moral values and the material developments of the age
- Illusion and reality in the relation between the East and the West
- Possible cultural exchange and impossible cultural exchange, or cultural
exchange and similarity
Within its limitations, the paper attempts to answer these problematic
issues and throw light on their essence.