Turkish Embassy Letters Summary

This Discussion is about how the author views contemporary Arabs’ attitude toward their own history in the play ‘The Jester’. It is written by Muhammad Al-Maghut, a Syrian writer and poet who is known for his satirical work. In this play, he vigorously converses about the social misery and meanness. This play focuses on reaction and behaviour of today’s Arab men towards their historical heroes in a satirical way. The play starts with highlighting the dignity and heroism of past Arab heroes, but in later acts it is depicted that the layman regards their heroism only because it has been magnificently presented to him, unless analysed by a contemporary Arab man. The writer tries to depict the behaviour of today’s Arabs towards achievements to

Stewart Gordon’s When Asia Was The World recounts events in history from the time 500-1500 CE. He takes the reader through details of journeys of different people, from different part of Asia, highlighting numerous things, including how trade of ideas, goods, and people changed certain parts of Asia, one particular region being the Middle East. The goods being traded in at that time have become cultural markers people see today. Some but not all are spices, fabrics, and materials brought in, that now people see in the food that is cooked, the clothing that is made, and things that the Middle Eastern people use in day to day life now. The people brought their knowledge of new religions, further creating the rise of Islam throughout Asia, and the ideas brought new intellect, including mathematical discoveries, and new philosophies, creating the distinct culture of

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

For this assignment the cultural manifestations I selected to discuss as being important to our Unit’s success are Wasta, Deference to authority, and Tendency to seek compromise. Of course understanding all of the cultural manifestations are important to our unit’s success, but each region within the Middle East-North African (MENA) region will have their own variations based upon which branch of Islam is dominant in the region, what that region’s experience has been with the U.S. or a Western presence in general and numerous other factors such as the prevailing socio-economic factors of the region.

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.

In Early Modern Era Europe, a move towards centralization resulted in the expansion of governments, particularly monarchies (CITE). With the rise in monarchs came the widespread acceptance of Divine Right, the belief that the emperor/king has sole power provided from God/the Heavens. While the basic meaning of Divine Right was constant across cultures, how a ruler expressed his power was not. Records from this period show us these differences in ruling technique and the unique governing styles they resulted in, such as The Turkish Letters description of the Ottoman Empire and French King Louis XIV’s Memoirs.(CITE) The Turkish Letters, written by Austrian Empire diplomat Busbecq during his visit with the Ottoman Empire ruler Suleiman I, provide insight on the empire’s effective ruling system that led to some of the most successful years for the Ottoman Empire(CITE).

“Catholic Clergy also resented the frequent prominence of Jews as government officials in Islamic regimes both in Spain and abroad.” (Delany, “Chaucer’s Prioress, the Jews, and the Muslims.” Pg.

The term orientalism was first founded in the 19th century, specifically 1978, and is connected with colonialism and that the middle east is backward in time and corrupt. This thought started back with European expansion where the ideas of Islam were developed, and the relationship changed. Initially, the ottoman empire is the most powerful empire of this time and with that, the Europeans begin to fear of the ottoman empire. Yet over time, they started to think they wanted to be more like the ottoman empire and become more powerful. But as European expansion spread this started to change and see the dark side of the empire. The side that was thought to be defective, and horrible and it is something that they actually do not want at all. This is pre-industrialization and could have been fear of invasion but in the end, Europeans wanted democracy. They ended up not wanting to be like the ottoman empire because of flaws like a

I am taking these last precious moments of my life to write this letter of animosity towards your horrific actions you have taken against my people. We are a strong independent race that has put up with your racism and unequal treatments for years, and we are still able to thrive. And yet, maybe this is the reason you are so envious towards these innocent people. What reasons have you to do such heinous deeds? The Armenians have been part of this region for over 2,000 years and you easily rip our home, our only way of living, right from under us. I am Zabel and now at the age of sixteen I have already witnessed over a million deaths, including my own family’s.

Europe before 1492 was partly occupied by Arabs in regions like Spain and Portugal for about 800 years. Undoubtedly, centuries of Arab presence left a legacy for Europe. Hegel acknowledges these as he states “ Arabs became zealous in promoting the arts and spreading them everywhere…Large cities arose in all parts of the empire, where commerce and manufactures flourished, splendid palaces were built, and schools created,” ( 359). Hegel's acknowledgment of the Arabs’ contribution is a way to deviate from impartiality he shows to Europe. Although he dismisses Islam because of a fanaticism developed throughout the religion (358). Hegel’s dismissal of Islam is important because it allows him to forward his claim about Europe’s supremacy. However, his argument creates an enormous flaw in that it praises Arabians for creating the Europe and Germany which Hegel is praising 300 years later. The word created and zealous to the quote since they establish qualities and projects not executed by the Arabians. Therefore, if Arab buildings, knowledge, and culture were a prerequisite to Europe’s flourishing under the Renaissance, then is Europe as great as Hegel states? Hegel’s inferior vision of the Arabs weakens his claim since it evidently demonstrates how Europe’s world power could not exist without the contributions of an “ inferior,” civilization.Similarly, George Strayer in his book “ Ways of the World,” discusses European technological borrowing after the Middle Ages. He states “ from that East Asian civilization, Europeans learned about the compass, papermaking, gunpowder, nautical technology, iron casting, a public postal service…Together these processes generated a significant tradition of technological innovation that allowed Europe by 1500 to catch up with, and in some areas perhaps to surpass, China and the Islamic world (22-23). The process “

Lady Montagu attempt to portray people of the Orient as moral individuals’ contrasts with the European streamlined understanding of the Orient. This attempt is clearly depicted in her description of the Turkish ladies. According

The European’s view of the orient was not flattering. As a group, they understood that their culture was different from many of the cultures present in the Oriental world. Unfortunately, the people of the west did not appreciate the differences between themselves and the people of the East. Consequently, they were unable to fully relate to the people of the orient in a meaningful or sympathetic way. Their inability to empathize with the East limited their understanding of the oriental nations as a whole. These limits revealed themselves in the form of the Europeans’ negative characterization of Eastern people. They viewed Easterners as uneducated, lazy, and merciless individuals. Eventually, these negative classifications led to the belief in the superiority of the Western society over the people of the orient. However, there were some who attempted to characterize the people of the orient from a less limited perspective. Lady Mary Wortley Montague’s The Turkish Embassy Letters (1763) attempt to create a flattering and sympathetic view of the oriental person is greatly overshadowed by some of the inherently oriental ideas in her characterization of them. Therefore, even though Renault’s Summary Judgement under the Moorish Kings of Grenada does not attempt to create a positive view of the Oriental society; he does echo some of the oriental ideas present in Montagu’s letters.

In his Introduction to Orientalism, Edward Said asserts that the “Orient has helped to define Europe as its contrasting image, idea, personality, experience,” (71). Therefore, in Season of Migration to the

Middle East considers one of the most studied areas in the world due to its rich history of politics, social, economic, and its culture and civilization. Its borders are still arguable geographically, generally in the west it starts from morocco until Iran in the east, however, many scholars don’t agree on including Turkey either as a Middle Eastern or as a European country (Milton-Edwards, 2006. P: 4). The origin of the name was invented by the colonies as a necessity to describe the place geographically, which was the era of bringing “Middle East” the language of academic writings and political scientists. Changes, innovations, and new ideologies create gaps between the transformations of any perspectives to a different

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