Orientalism To Ignorance In Americanah By Adichie

Culture may have its sources in different aspects of human life, as: language, nationality, education, profession, group, religion, family, social class, corporate culture. All these elements influence every member of a society and thus, culture is learnt and transmitted to others.

Culture is the invisible bond which ties people together. People in a culture might share a religion or language and often have similar attitudes, behaviors, or beliefs. Cultures have been spread around, developed, and changed over time. The art, literature, language, and religion of a community represent its culture. Our cultural values and beliefs manifest themselves through our lifestyle. Our moral values represent our culture. The importance of culture lies in its close association with the ways of thinking and living. Our culture gives us an identity, and helps build our character. The cultural values shared across our community or social group, give us a sense of belonging towards society. Our culture unites us and gives us a sense of security. The importance of culture cannot be stressed enough, as it is something that lies within us, around us, and is an integral part of our being. It defines the way we treat others and

Culture is one of the most relevant elements that can define not only a society but also a country’s cumulative beliefs and system. Often noted as the origins of a country, culture is definitive in the sense that it harbors all the elements that can provide justification on the traditions and norms set by the society for its members. More often than not, the society members follow norms in order to create a harmonious community, and the beliefs and the traditions serve as the poles or grounding rules for each member to follow. Culture is very dynamic in the way that it can change over a variety of foreign influences but what is permanent about it is that original elements about it often lingers with the influences, therefore making it multi-faceted and broad. More importantly, culture serves as an individual and unique trait each society has, and therefore sets it apart from other countries and other societies.

Culture is a very vital part of the world as we know it today. There are very many different cultures all around the world. In the USA, we have a mix of all the different cultures and and family values. From the original Native Americans that inhabited America to the Middle Eastern people in Afghanistan. These people groups have brought their language, food, values, and customs with them.

Culture is a large part of every person’s life, it is what makes each person unique. Within culture there are many aspects such as food, music, clothing, tradition, and many more. Since culture makes up such a large part of our day to day lives, it is almost always responsible shaping and informing our view on the world.

Culture is the most basic cause of a person’s wants and behaviour. Growing up, children learn basic values, perception and wants from the family and other important groups.

There are various aspects that make up a culture in today’s world, ranging from necessities needed for survival, social groups, and the unique traditions they value within the specific culture. That’s why we all are able to conclude that culture is the fluid set of traditions, customs, beliefs, values, and practices developed over time by a specific group or community.

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.

Culture a set of shared values that a group of people hold. These values affect how you think, act and most importantly the basis on which you judge others. These behaviors can be viewed as normal and right or strange or wrong. Keep in mind though that we are all individuals and that no two people belonging to the same culture

“You can't write a script in your mind and then force yourself to follow it. You have to let yourself be” (Half of a yellow sun). Americanah is a novel written by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, which revolves around identity, race, feminism and true love. The main character in the novel “Americanah” is Ifemelu, which is a Nigerian woman who goes to the US to college. As an African woman she has to face many obstacles regarding her race and is often seen as less by other people. Ifemelu struggled with the concept of identity during the entire novel, where she did not know who she was nor who she wanted to be. Ifemelu did not speak English so well and she also struggled to find a decent job in the US. We observed in the novel that she could not even get a job at a fast food place, which was detrimental to her crisis. She even had to use a fake

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

Thus, the terms culture and society are somewhat interchangeable. Characteristics of culture: Culture is narrow. It prescribes that kinds of behavior considered acceptable in the society. The prescriptive characteristic of culture simplifies a consumer's decision-making process by limiting product choices to those, which are socially acceptable. These same characteristics create problems for those products not in tune with the consumer's cultural beliefs. Culture is socially shared. Culture cannot exist by itself. Members of a society must share it. Thus acting to reinforce culture's perspective nature. Culture is learned. Culture is not inherited genetically; it must be learned and acquired. Socialization or enculturation occurs when a person absorbs or learns the culture in which he or she is raised. Culture facilitates communication. One useful function provided by culture is to facilitate communication. Culture usually imposes common habits of though and feeling among people. Thus, within a given group culture makes it easier for people to communicate with one another. But culture may also block communication across groups because of a lack of shared common culture values. This is one reason why a standardized advertisement may have difficulty communicating with consumers in foreign countries. How marketing efforts interact with a culture determines the success or failure of a

He saw this through many ways and because of what was mentioned in the above quote and “the Middle East crisis of 1973 that provoked Said to research and write Orientalism, which was published in 1978” (Irwin 2006, 281). His book however, is not a book about the “history[s] of the Oriental studies, but rather a highly selective polemic on certain aspects of the relations of knowledge and power. Its style and content strongly suggest that it is addressed exclusively to a Western readership” (Irwin 2006, 281). In his book he starts with two points or problems that he saw happen with what others said when studying the Orient. The first one was from Karl Marx who stated that “They cannot represent themselves; they must be represented” and the second was from Benjamin Disraeli who said “The East is a career” (Krishna 2009, 73). Both these points did not sit well with Said as they showed that knowledge or