An Explaining of the Components of Occidentosis: A Plague by the West and Returning to Self-identity in Jalal Al-e-Ahmad’s Thoughts

Abstract

After World War II, new branches were added to sciences, especially the humanities. Due to the extensive interaction between the East and the West, the translation and summarization of the Western written works and the return of graduates to the country from abroad created a dramatic development in all affairs of the Eastern countries. One of the most important changes that took place was modernization, which swept across the various political, social, and personal domains of most Western societies and affected many people in these societies. The clash between tradition and modernity led to the overshadowing of traditional beliefs and the personal and national identities of Eastern societies in interaction with the West; thus, it made some Eastern intellectuals, writers, and thinkers oppose the teachings of modernism so that they strongly emphasized the necessity of returning to self-identity and native traditions. Based on the above approach, the present article seeks to answer what Westernization and return to self-identify in the thoughts of Jalal Al-e-Ahmad mean. It can be said that by turning to fiction, essay writing, travelogue writing and bringing up diverse social themes in different forms, Sayyid Jalal Al-e-Ahmad brought up the concern for returning to self-identity and Westernization, and in his book, “Occidentosis: A Plague by the West”, he criticized modernity. Then, he emphasized identity and historical traditions that are discussed in detail in this study. In addition, in this research, while analyzing the political life of Jalal Al-e-Ahmad through descriptive-analytic method, his thoughts and views on Westernization are analyzed and elaborated on with an emphasis on a postcolonial theory by relying on library resources.