Orientalism (Edward Said) Lecture
How does Rudyard Kipling relate to Orientalism, and why does Said oppose him?
he saw East and West as entirely separate (he was an Orientalist); this view is still held today ex: Clash of Civilizations; Said argues that there are differences between East and West but they are not fundamentally different as Kipling thought
What do the first, second, third, and fourth worlds refer to (from the Cold War)?
first world: NATO forces (U.S., West Europe, Japan, Canada, Australia) second world: the Communist Bloc (Soviet Union, East Europe, China, Cuba) third world: countries who are not allied either with NATO or the Communist Bloc, developing countries and non-major world powers *contemporary term* fourth world: indigenous people
What are the 3 basic ideas about Orientalism?
1) Orientalism serves political ambitions 2) It is predicated on false constructions of Near, Middle, and Far 3) West cultures define their identities in relation to those false constructions
What are the two tendencies to avoid when discussing other cultures?
1) do not ignore history 2) do not view cultures as bound, essential, and unchanging units
What is Orientalism?
A paradigm, an ideology, a worldview that examines how the Orient is looked at, analyzed, and understood by the Occident; a way of thinking, a form of analysis, that challenges the domination of Euro-American tradition
What is orientalism as Said broadly defines it?
How we see, think about, discuss and understand the "other"
What is Said's perspective of the Orient?
Said believes that the "Oriental" is a myth and stereotype; the Orient came to be seen as a truth or systematic knowledge; the Orient is merely a social construction (geographically, it includes many nations and cultures that are seen as a cohesive whole); the Orient is a mirror for the West that shows what is different/alien/"other"
How does Said's definition evoke Foucault?
Said refers to Orientalism as a "discourse"; Said suggests that knowledge is produced in situations of unequal relations of power
What was Said's goal in analyzing Orientalism?
Said was interested in how people see each other and how, by understanding that, we can better understand each other and oppose discrimination
How does Said describe the relationship between East and West?
The relationship between the East and West is one of power, discrimination, and hegemony; it is an exercise of political and economic power via culture
Who is the "other"?
people who are different than you in terms of looks, speech, language, and culture
Orientalism and complexity
the othering of the Orient obscures complexity
Orientalism and imperialism
the study of orientalism coincides with the start of imperialism the rationale for imperialism was the contribute to the spread of civilization with the belief that a truly effective colonial conquest requires knowledge of the people orientalists gather, collect, and invent knowledge about the orient knowledge is power
