Essay on Orientalism

sociologically affected. He then goes on to describe the basis of Orientalism, as it is

Moreover, this construction as the foreign eastern country as feminine is the typical western view of the orient. This view of the Orient is connected to Edward Said's concept 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

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

One of the things that also affect the development of literary work is Orientalism. Orientalism is one of colonial ideologies which can be found in literary work which can show author’s colonial

I believe that everyone has their own perspective on identifying different race, ethnicity or gender, etc. I think it is hard for people to have exactly the same perspectives on human traits because everyone has their own opinions and thoughts. However, something I found interesting is that people who have similar thoughts seems to hang around together because they have the same beliefs. For example, at University of Nevada, Las Vegas, we can easily see that people who have same race, ethnicity, class, or religion, etc, they are always gathering together. The question of the essay is how do I identify and why? Personally, I identity people by looking at their appearance and the apparel they are wearing because it is easiest way to figure which

Stuart Hall’s work introduces readers to the discourse of “the West and the Rest”, and outlines how the “system of representation” it provides serves to validate the power of the Western world (186). He highlights how the dissemination of discourse about Western superiority and the comparative “otherness” of the non-Western world work to maintain power hierarchies. Hall pinpoints several historical events, from the Crusades to colonisation, as instrumental in forming a Western identity through opposition to “the

I believe they, the Middle Eastern people and Asians were already being stigmatized way before 9/11, especially the Asians during WW II, and it took them 20 years later to repeal the two laws which allowed for imprisonment of people, deemed to be in collaboration with foreign enemies and the second which was the Executive Order 9066, that used the presidential power of the Chief Executive Officer to order the wartime imprisonment of Japanese Americans. Japanese Americans in Concentration Camps. (n.d.). After 9/11 it has become worse, not only for the Middle Eastern people and Asians but for other ethnic people too. There seems to be a mentality or rather narrow mindedness that people have and it is not just in the U.S. but all over, no thanks to the media**.

Orientalism in anthropology is the "western scholarship about the eastern world" (Said, 1978) but more importantly is the "fictional and irrational representation of the middle east by the western world" (Said, 1978) which is done to establish a sense of western superiority. In her introduction of the book, Ghannam expresses her dissatisfaction with the way Arab men are portrayed in the western "media, policy circles and some scholarly works" and aims to portray them with - to an extent - unprejudiced view of the issue. In addition, although she identifies and introduces herself being from a "middle eastern origin" (Ghannam, 2013), she considers herself among the western audience when she refers to them as "we" or considering the west "here". Therefore, no matter how much of an insider she considers herself to be, she still is looking at the orient from the perspective of a westerner and even her comparison of her daughter with Ahmed shows

The western world does not study the Orient strictly for imperialistic purposes as this can be realized by examining the arguments of Said, Lewis and Buruma. In developing his argument, Said believes that the Western world’s only intention in studying the Orient is so that it may benefit in the form of imperialism. Said is intent on making his thesis clear as he directly, and strongly, argues on page three that Orientalism is “a Western style for dominating, restructuring, and having authority over the Orient.” Over the course of the rest of the introduction to Orientalism, Said does not sway from this conviction.

In this work, he expresses the belief that the “the so-called objective truth of the white man’s superiority built and maintained by the classical European colonial empires also rested on a violent subjugation of African and Asian peoples (Said, Pg. 37). Said believed that Western history should be viewed from this premise; that our perception of Arab and African history is viewed through a looking glass tinted by these prejudices. Concerning Edward Said, the New York Times wrote in a summary of the century’s achievements was “one of the most important literary critics alive” (Said, Pg. 149). Thirty years after its publication in 1978, Orientalism remains an important ...much debated book. (Said, Pg.

According to Edward Said, Orientalism is based on ontological meaning the nature of reality, and epistemological meaning the validity to the assumptions of nature. With Orientalism, the West has been known as civilized and cultured, but the East has been portrayed as unreasonable, hectic, and uncultured due to perceived images and notions directed. In the case of Homeland, there are instances of students such as Tad, we portray Iranians, Palestinians, or Iraqis as all Muslims who consider the West infidels and are mostly terrorist’s altogether. But in reality, countries from the Middle East have different secular and political beliefs which separate the population from one another. Furthermore, Nicholas being associated with Islam indicates from the West point of view, as a sign of betrayal and aiding with the enemy, as Muslims have the image of being

Colonialism and Orientalism are interrelated especially when limiting the geographical context. In this gender and violence based lens, Colonialism is essentially intending to gain political authority over middle eastern countries discussed in the course as well as exploitation of women and stereotypes. Orientalism on the other hand is when certain aspects of middle eastern (or asian) cultures are disproportionately represented or dramatized inaccurately. These two ideas are critical when dealing with the issue of honor killings and how they are overall perceived by western society.

Today in America debate over the social and psychological role of gender has shown the implications of traditional stereotypical views that are placed on women and men. These roles are systems of power that divide men and women as masculine and feminine and place masculinity and men above women in American/Western culture. The construction of these systems by men show the chauvinistic ideals of masculinity from Western culture that are destructive to women, men, and other cultures as well such as between Eastern culture and the Western culture. M.Butterfly by David Henry Hwang shows the theme of gender with Orientalism, where europeans fetishize Asian cultures as passive, exotic, feminine, and its impact of misogynistic fetishization on men and women. With the main character Gallimard, it is shown he is heavily influenced by the orientalist and imperialist views that pervade his Western culture with his relationship to others which slowly becomes detrimental over time in the play.