Essay on Introduction to Orientalism by Edward Said

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

This he performs with respect to the philosophies of history which he calls substantive or analytical-and this is fully analogous to drawing the borderline between transcendent and immanent philosophical knowledge.

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 first step is to separate what one believes from that one knows, and to separate what is from what must be. (Hinchey, 5) By doing this, one is able to begin to deconstruct the assumptions about the system in which we operate, which allows the individual to see the system as custom instead of irrefutable law. The next step in critical theory is

I must confess that I am guilty of harboring unconscious stereotypes of Asian women. Kathleen Uno’s article “Unlearning Orientalism: Locating Asian and Asian American Women in Family History” brought this to light. She makes a very strong argument that Orientalism has exaggerated Asian patriarchy and the subordination of women; therefore, influencing research to highlight only the oppressive aspects of the Asian family. Uno states that once we can free ourselves from the “Orientalist blinders”, it will allow us to shed the stereotypes by revaluating the role of Asian and Asian American women and acknowledging their contributions. (Uno, 2003)

Orientalism, as termed by Edward Said, is meant to create awareness of a constellation of assumptions that underlie Western attitudes towards the Eastern societies. While some of these opinions show the cultures in a positive light, the majority of them are biased and emphasise on depicting negative aspects as perceived by strangers to the Eastern culture.

When westerners are doing business in the any region of the world, it is important to

Orientalism has led to a false representation of Asia and the people who come from and live there. Due to these false assumptions of how Asians are portrayed as, many Asian-Americans have struggled with their lives. These struggles ranged from some being persecuted for being a certain race and others for finding it hard to see themselves being represented fairly in media. Asian-Americans have been largely misrepresented and are seen as the “Others”. However, many Asian-American artist, all with different backgrounds, have found ways to bring Orientalist views into questioning and tried to better represent themselves and the Asian-American community. Dumbfounded, Mary Im, and the trio Iijima, Miyamoto, and Chin have all challenged Orientalist

(a.1) One of David Kang’s most convincing arguments in “East Asia Before the West: Five Centuries of Trade and Tribute” is that the East Asia system was more effective in keeping peace as opposed to the system in Europe, a continent that saw many wars in the five centuries that Kang covers in his book.

There are fundamental differences between Eastern and Western cultures and the meeting of these cultures has had several effects, both in Asia and here in the US. Overseas, you can see the juxtaposition of American pop culture on the older modes of Asian thought and society. Here, New Age religions find new excuses in Asian religions and philosophies and Anime is appears regularly on Saturday morning cartoons. Often, this juxtaposition becomes turbulent as the younger generations are caught between two seemingly opposing cultures. As a result, crime rates rise with the integration of Western ideals and culture into Asian society. This is true here in America too as the first generation of

For decades, the Middle East has been a hot bed for one conflict after another. Countries like Russia, China, and North Korea are using

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

Orientalism is a study of language and traditions of the people and their culture in the Middle East. These studies are mostly done by people outside of the culture that is being looked at, and mostly the studies are being performed by white western men. Edward Said believed that there was a problem with the way in which other people were studying and writing about his culture. He was upset and spoke up when he wrote a booked called “Orientalism,” in his book he points out many reasons why the study of orientalism is hurting the cultures in which they are studying. The study of other cultures and countries better known as the Orient has become a popular discussion since Said’s book on orientalism was published. This paper will take a look