Orientalism

Purpose [quote]:

"Orientalism as a Western style for dominating, restructuring, and having authority over the Orient." [3]

The colonial view of the Orient [quote]:

"an assumption had been made that the Orient and everything in it was, if not patently inferior to, then in need of corrective study by the West." [40-41

Solution & Alternative to Orientalism [quote]:

"critical thought does not submit to state power... Rather than the manufactured clash of civilizations, we need to concentrate on the slow working together of cultures that overlap, borrow from each other, and live together" [xxii]

The extent of colonial rule [quote]:

"from 1815 to 1914 European direct colonial dominion expanded from about 35 percent of the Earth's surface to about 85 percent of it." [41]

The Occident vs The Orient [quote]:

"geographical sectors as "Orient" and "Occident" are man-made." [5]

Identity [quote]:

"social contests involving such concrete political issues as immigration laws, the legislation of personal conduct, the constitution of orthodoxy, the legitimization of violence and/or insurrection, the character and content of education, and the direction of foreign policy, which very often has to do with the designation of official enemies." [332]

Origin of Orientalism:

Early eighteenth century and focused on language. In these days, no other method was known but for scholars to learn the different languages and to translate the native works into Western languages.

example of grave impact of Orientalism:

The Oklahoma Bombing, where all the major new networks and the government deemed the event a 'middle eastern style bombing,' with all major leads pointing towards the middle east. ONLY to be found out that it was a home grown Christian Fundamentalist, which was not radicalized at all. [ref. in Sut Jhally doc 'Said on Orientalism' video]

Problems:

The Orientalist scholars did not distinguish among the countries of the region. The term "Oriental" was used to describe the Middle East and Near East and Far East. This led to misrepresentations in the study of the Orient and the various aspects of the Orient = led to confusion and poor depictions from scholars and politicians.

Changing:

The Orientalists, (the Europeans), did not understand the Muslim or Oriental and were afraid of the difference. Their studies propagated these fears and persisted until a certain level of understanding was reached after World War I when the study of the Orient shifted from Europe to the United States.

Reason:

The colonial rulers believed they could not rule properly, without some knowledge of the people they ruled.

Removing the Clichés around the Orient:

The spreading of say Arab poets and novelists would obviously counteract the western cliché, abstract imagery of the Orient, because the writer will explain his values and humanity, we must acknowledge and try to understand no matter how different this may be.

The Problem Edward Said found:

West thought opposite of the East and considered the active while the Orient was considered to be passive. He explores how these assumptions are constructed in opposition to what the West thinks about themselves, and therefore defines this projected image of "Arabs" in the mind of Westerners as the other - we define the other by what we are not. The danger is that these assumptions come to be treated as truth and therefore impact our relations and our ideologies.

ORIENTALISM orig. 1978 EDWARD W. SAID:

a critique of the study of the Orient and its ideology. Said examines the historical, cultural, and political views of the East(Orient) that are held by the West (Occident).