Orientalism Edward Said Summary

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

When analyzing the current relationship between eastern and western cultures, it seems as if tensions and conflict arise from a complex and layered set of problems. These issues range from political, economic and military stances to opposing cultural beliefs. The genesis of these

Disney’s Aladdin is a fit example of misrepresentation of diverse cultures from a Westernized perspective. Disney is famous for lending representations of world from a Western viewpoint. According to Edward Said, orientalism is a way of expressing Arab peoples and Islamic cultures as compared to Western or European society (Palestine Diary). Said’s explains orientalism is the framework that we use to

Although Said didn’t directly look into gender orientalism he had made a great point in his article when discussing how the West view woman in an Oriental society. “[…] she never spoke of herself, and she never represented her emotions, presence or history. He spoke for and represented her. He was foreign, comparatively wealthy, male […]” (Said, Page 6). In this part Said is discussing how Western men would

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.

Kang quotes scholars saying “…there appeared to be one race, and the West had strung the tape at the finish line for others to break…” and “… many of our international-relations theories … see East Asians as identical to Westerners in goals, attitudes, and beliefs.” However, Kang argues that East Asia had a different system, even the opposite, of the European “balance of powers”. Europe’s system created unavoidable war as the states fought to stay equal.

With the introduction of European colonialism towards Asian nations, it shaped many parts of Asia itself, not just economically, but socially as well. With the age of imperialism at its peak, different mindsets and attitudes were developed between the East and the West. Gone were the days of the individual, while groups, tribes, and eventually, races, were taking their place. The growing “knowledge” of either nation towards each other not only caused misunderstanding, but created a rift between the two as well. As the development of Western knowledge towards Asia grew due to the rise of “science” that supported colonialism, the caste system, and rebellion, it affected not only the Western understanding of Asia, but of Asian people developing

As a result of Western imperialism circa 1900, throughout the Middle East things began to change. European writers and tourists flooded into Middle Eastern countries and developed a very exoticized view of the men and particularly women who lived there. Ultimately the general consensus was that Middle Eastern women were oppressed by Middle Eastern men. Through the Western lens this perceived oppression was indicative of the “uncivilized” and stunted nature of Middle Eastern society. Western influence was forcefully pervading Middle Eastern society. Imperialism via tourism, travel literature, European schools as well as other vehicles, changed how people both within the

The European’s mindset by the latter of the third of the 18th century saw that inside each Asian burned the effervescent ember of savagery. Without controlling governance over the people, Europeans believed anarchy would chaotically erupt in Asia. It was believed Asians truly did not have self-control without a supreme leader. Oriental despotism is the idea that the societies in Asia have a single totalitarian-formed government and without this leadership there would be no order to their society. According to Montesquieu, Asian power is absolutist and held in the hands of one. Everything that could possibly happen is in the merciless hands of the despotism. In Montesquieu’s epistolary novel The Persian Letters, he argues for oriental despotism through his two main characters in the story Usbec and Rico. He talks about the economic, political, social and cultural aspects of Persian society that he parallels with oriental despotism. Montesquieu also shows makes his story of the characters into a metaphor of the destruction of oriental despotism. Marx believed in the superiority of the west and the lack of growth in political and economic realms of Asiatic society contributing to the concept of Asian despotism. Finally, Hegel touches on the white man’s burden where he uses oriental despotism to explain the child like relationship Europeans had with the savage orients.

Ansary says thats its like two parallel universes, the West and the heartland of Islam existed alongside each other for centuries – and ignored each other. For a long time, writes Ansary, each regarded itself as the centre of world history. He comments that it was only in the 17th century that the two perspectives began to overlap. “And because the West was more powerful, its narrative prevailed and suppressed the other.”

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

In her work, she joins her disapproval of the abuse against women, non-Europeans, and the poor by the wealthy west. Spivak faces in her essay “epistemic violence” done by sermons of knowledge that shape the whole world. This epistemic violence is like a curse over subjects of discourses. It is similar to Edward Said idea (1935-2003; public intellectual and founder of the academic field of postcolonial studies). His idea of otherness in “Orientalism” display the bigotry of western scholars who write in a biased way about the East in order to create “ otherness”.

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