Médecine occidentale et définition des "Orientaux" au Proche-Orient à la fin de l'époque ottomane

Ever since Edward W. Said's Orientalism was published in 1978, the label "Oriental" has been seen as essentializing. The case of the French Faculty of Medicine in Beirut shows that the term came to be used in a much more flexible and pragmatic way. The teaching there was geared toward disseminating French science to Middle Eastern students. However, in order to comply with demands from the French Ministry of Public Instruction, the Faculty hd to define what being an "Oriental" meant, as it became a condition for admission to the program. This formal obligation led to a more geographic definition that de-emphasized culturalism.