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Orientalism

            The dialectical relationship between Occident and Orient as discussed by Edward Said is a manifestation of "us versus them." According to Said, Western culture has proven to be the most ethnocentric culture because of "anthropocentrism in alliance with Europocentrism." (Said, 98). Said was born and raised in the Middle East (Jerusalem) and received his degrees from Princeton and Harvard, making him a liminal figure in the academic realm. Although such experiences grant him authority on the topic of the West's relationship to the East, his argument displays a strong partisan attitude towards Oriental culture. Orientalism is an account of the West's collective view of Eastern culture through what Said argues is a distorted lens called the Orient. Inspired by the Baconian assumption that knowledge is power, Said believes that this view has altered the reality of the people and culture of the East, inadvertently stripping them of their humanity with ethnocentric Western definitions.
             With a fundamental belief that the origins of the conceptual division of Occident and Orient stem from geographic differences, he concludes that a history of misrepresentation is the culprit for the predominant Western view of an Eastern culture rife with alien and therefore dangerous sentiment. "[The] universal practice of designating in one's mind a familiar space beyond "ours" [as] "theirs" is a way of making geographical distinctions that can be entirely arbitrary." (54). This imaginative geography - "our land - barbarian land" - effectively gives a seemingly better understanding of where the "our landers" stand in the world, "by dramatizing the distances and differences between what is close and what is far away." (54).
             Said argues that an image of the East as the Western antithesis has created a cultural justification for political and moral injustices throughout history. That "because the Oriental - European relationship was determined by an unstoppable European expansion in search of markets, resources, and colonies," (95) the West needed to protect its interests, and did so through "Orientalism".


Essays Related to Orientalism

1. Orientalism and Edward Said

... altruistic empires, as if one shouldn't trust the evidence of one's eyes watching the destruction and the misery and death brought by the latest mission of civilization"" (Edward W. Said, Orientalism). The term, "Orientalism," has been used for centuries by scholars, historians, and librarians alike in reference to the Middle East and the Near East. More often than not, this reference would be ... birth to the fascination with Ancient Egyptian culture and Egyptology in Europe. However, in 1978, Edward Said drastically revolutionized the meaning of The Orient with the publishing of his boo...

  • Word Count: 4296
  • Approx Pages: 17
  • Has Bibliography
  • Grade Level: Undergraduate

2. Suspect Community and Orientalism

... deprivation, sexual abuse, starvation leading him to wanting to commit suicide. His experience at Guantánamo Bay demolished his life perhaps due to the mental and physical abuse. Orientalism and Suspect Communities Orientalism is, "The systematic attempt to create the categories of the the 'West' and the 'Orient' whereby, the West is equated with self, rational, civilized, ... humane, superior; and the East/orient with other, irrational, undeveloped, savage, inferior" as defined by Edward Said (Trainor, 2015). There are many different types of violence used in orientalism, th...

  • Word Count: 1776
  • Approx Pages: 7
  • Grade Level: Undergraduate

3. Orientalism

... York, he maintains his membership in the Palestine National Council. He pushes for Palestinian self-determination. He has published ten books, among them, Orientalism "the runner up in criticism for the National Book Critics Circle Award. He has also written The World, the Text and the Critic, ... customs, and their feelings. They assumed that colonization would be easy and very profitable for them. The second claim in this book is that Orientalism wasn't just a discovery far away from home. It helped define home. It helped define Europe. Europeans and their successes in colonizing the re...

  • Word Count: 686
  • Approx Pages: 3

4. Orientalism - Edward Said

... The power of the stronger is based on many variables of cultural power and intellectual strength. In his 1979 essay entitled "The Scope of Orientalism", Professor Edward Said presents the idea by analyzing the relationships between East and West during the nineteenth and twentieth century. Said interprets the meaning ... the administrations of the west that have further advanced the problems in Iraq via the lop-sided structure of power distribution at the core of Orientalism. Chomsky's characterization of the "west" is portrayed far more viciously than Said's. This is indicative in Chom...

  • Word Count: 1075
  • Approx Pages: 4
  • Grade Level: High School

5. The "Other" Perspective

... in the Orient regions, Said noticed a constant superiority factor within the general discourse of the West upon the East. This sense of dominance was to be found in works of Orientalism - the works of literary writers and of academic research based on scholars who study the Orient. Marginalized as the "Other" and constantly differentiated by those of the West, Said ... was fuelled to raise awareness of this misconception and thus published Orientalism, an analysis from the "Other" Perspective. Said mainly argues that the study of Orientalism is inevitably jaded by Western ideologies and...

  • Word Count: 797
  • Approx Pages: 3
  • Has Bibliography
  • Grade Level: Undergraduate

6. George Orwell and Politics

... natives as human because they were considered worth even less than an animal. European reactions display their sense of superiority and racism. The situation is an example of Said's Orientalism. According to Said, Orientalism is a "Western style for dominating, restructuring, and having authority over the Orient". There are some stereotypes to the orientals which is "the Orient and Orientals ... ;Shooting an Elephant" as well. For instance, "Shooting an Elephant" is shown how the natives and non-natives are depicted to some extent stereotypes according to Said's Orientalism. Additionally...

  • Word Count: 1153
  • Approx Pages: 5
  • Has Bibliography

7. Media and How We View the World

... , more long-term anti-Arab sentiments in people. Once again, this can lead to innocent people suffering (Shaheen, 2009; 52). Similarly, Orientalism, through its art and literature has provided a basis for Arab stereotyping in the media today. Orientalism refers to the Wests superior attitude and the stereotypical interpretation of Eastern people and their culture (Said, 1978; 22). Under the West's interpretation ... feminized in films and other media outlets. By doing this, it allows the East to be seen as weaker and in need of Western intervention. The effects of decades of Orientalism ...

  • Word Count: 2408
  • Approx Pages: 10
  • Grade Level: Undergraduate

8. Disney

... through Disney, the Orient is misrepresented. Disney, as a Western enterprise attempts to interpret cultures and lifestyles of the East in what Edward Said calls Orientalism. As a discourse it is concerned with the East and West. Said describes Orientalism as "a way of coming to terms with the Orient that is based on the Orient's special place in European Western Experience."" (Said) It expresses ... understand how Walt Disney exerts such influential control over children's culture and how it portrays Eastern cultures, it is important to understand both how Disney works and the concept ...

  • Word Count: 1953
  • Approx Pages: 8
  • Grade Level: Undergraduate

9. South Asian Culture Studies

... parents are valued most, to act according to the principles of honor, love, wisdom and decency is to be above the existing traditions. Orientalims in the Movie "Party" Orientalism is a feature, mannerism, or tradition specific to or characteristic of the Orient; scholarly knowledge of Asian cultures, languages, and peoples (Bhabha 101-104). Eastern culture took many things from ... of fashion. The movie shows high, respected society of Indian intellectuals, their beliefs, and values. An Indian family is a male-dominated structure that has its influences on the society itself. Orientalis...

  • Word Count: 1489
  • Approx Pages: 6
  • Has Bibliography
  • Grade Level: Undergraduate

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