A Critical Analysis Of Edward Said's Thesis Of Orientalism

No individual can arrive at the threshold of his potentialities without a culture in which he participates. Conversely, no civilization has in it any element that the last analysis is not the contribution of an individual. Where else could any trait come from except from the behaviour of a man or a woman or a child? (253)

Power: the political power is the ability to shape and control the political behavior of

It is no longer unusual to suggeste that the construction of the colonial order is related to the eloboration of modern forms of representation and knowledge

In order to better understand the criticism against these Chinese writers, we must first understand what is meant by orientalist thinking or orientalism for that matter. One of the authorities on the subject, Edward Said explains the term "Orientalism" and tackles the question of East and

In chapter 3, “The Orient and Other Others” Sara Ahmed expresses her view on “orientation”, considering how bodies “inhibit space” and relate both to objects and other people. From this starting point the author then develops and argument on racism and the notion of whiteness, which refers to a societal view of what it mean to be white and how such quality is experienced by non-white people. Therefore whiteness being both a “social and bodily orientation.”

The blending of ideas and beliefs of people from different cultures has posed a challenge to the social construct of many cities and nations for thousands of years. Comparing the ideas of Michael Schwalbe and Thomas Sowell as it pertains to sociological adaption between the members and beliefs of different races and cultures could pose a difficult task for some, but after reviewing each of their thoughts in regard to this subject, one’s own beliefs will sway them either to support Schwalbe’s view or Sowell’s view and the one that they, as individuals, are likely to agree with will determine their position on this subject. Schwalbe’s view focused on being mindful of other differences so that there can be more social equality amongst all people and that this equality could only come about over time by people treating each other with more “respect and compassion and refusing to participate in recreating inequalities even in little ways”. However, Sowell’s view seemed to be a bit more realistic as it centered on the notion that differences amongst people are somewhat of a catalyst for change and the change that these differences bring about can still be used as an advantage for all mankind. If society was to truly become equal and society’s differences were a thing of the past, some may say this would create a Utopia, I feel that instead of a Utopia, this could lead to our demise.

The civilizations, as identified by Huntington are Sinic [Chinese or Confusious], Japanese, Hindu, Islamic, Orthodox [Russian], Western [Europe, North American, Australia, New Zealand], Latin American and possibly African. And it is among these groups that share a “common interest and common values” and have a “common culture or civilization” that will lead to more interdependence on members of the same civilization and less dependent on the West. Huntington’s theory is that the West has had [at one time or another] a negative impact on every other civilization, and this has led to a decline of power and influence around the world, especially the Islam civilization. Therefore he predicts, “the fault lines between civilizations will be the battle lines of the future.”

Society is everything that the people join together to do which is positive. Government, however, is meant only to protect us from ourselves. Government is described as a “necessary evil,” and should only be judged on how well it accomplishes that goal.

Since Anarchism promise a society where the wrong and foolish are abolished. Furthermore, the second objective which the author discusses is that Anarchism provides violence, destructive, and is dangerous. The author supports her view by saying that people who lacks education are convinced of what the system has told them about their idea of anarchism, which makes them unaware that anarchism wants a system where all individuals have liberty over their wants and needs (pg.49). Emma Goldman identified three primary oppressive institutions, but the most harmful was by the state. The states is a subdivision of the government where it still has more power over the individuals. For example, people from each state are obligated to pay taxes. Nobody is content, but they do nothing in this regard (pg.56-57). In addition to this, people still believe that the system will bring justice, but the author states that a natural law is anything that you can obtain in this world. On the other hand, in the system it should be easy for people to harmonize, but since there is violence and force being involved it makes the government capacity to regulate the

Indeed, to explore the focus of analysis, the study will be completed by applying orientalism criticism proposed by Edward Said. Thereby, this research will be a qualitative research where the data is taken from the film Avatar, library

Stuart Hall’s The West and the Rest and Edward Said’s Orientalism both explore notions of power and discourse with regard to the dynamics of the Western world and the non-Western world. The works engage with the concept of a worldwide binary of two unequal sides, and how certain discourses, namely that of “the West and the Rest”, and Orientalism, have both stemmed from this idea and worked to maintain it. While Hall engages with the idea of “the West and the Rest” – the Western world and how it has been defined in opposition to the non-Western – Said analyses the relationship between “the Orient and the Occident” (2). Said’s work reflects in a more concrete way what Hall proposes in his, using the example of “the Orient” as part of “the Rest” against which the Western world positions itself. Both pieces convey significant ideas about how power informs perceptions of difference between societies, and in turn how discourse forms and maintains global hegemonic power.

I want to research whether portrayals of Orientalism in the media are used to retroactively justify decisions such as imperialism or the Vietnam War. I chose this topic because I found Edward Said’s theory of Orientalism very thought-provoking and wondered if it can apply to contemporary society. In addition to that, I have not seen a lot of contemporary analysis on Orientalism of Southeast Asia. My initial inspiration was when I watched the film No Escape, which seemed blatantly racist and problematic. I narrowed and refined my topic by further researching the concepts of Orientalism and otherness, and considered how they could be applied to this film. Sources that have been key in defining my research topic include scholar articles on Orientalism

government control to positively influence society. When a society can trust and rely on state

“...Orientalism is not so innocent a form of knowledge as this. Instead, he redefines Orientalism as the ubiquity of a sense of the division of the world into two spheres in aesthetic production, popular culture, and scholarly, sociological, and historical texts. In other words, he is suggesting that the concept of difference between east and west is a geopolitical difference which is written up throughout the texts of western culture whether through travel writing, political texts, paintings, or in academic discussions” (Sharp 2009, 31).

To start with, lets us go through the simple definitions of these concepts, Orientalism, Panopticism and Ornamentalism. According to Edward Saied, orientalisim simply refers to the way of depicting the Orient or East, in contrast to the Occident or West and also enables the political, economic, cultural and social domination of the West not just during colonial times, but also in the present. As indicated by Mechal Focault, panopticism is a social hypothesis or theory named after the word ‘Panopticon’. Focault mentioned that it is the relationship between power and knowledge and that power creates knowledge. He mentioned in his book ‘Discipline and punish’ that the "panopticon" refers to an experimental laboratory of power in which behaviour of the people could be seen. He also viewed the panopticon as a sign of the