Said"s Orientalism and the History of Creating Orientals by the Book
The scholar Edward Said in his acclaimed book "Orientalism" raised an important issue that is more than relevant in today's world.
He claims that Western culture, mostly superpowers like Britain and France, "created" a certain image of Orientals that suited them ideologically and politically, a stereotypical, biased and ethnocentric view that the modern West has still not been able to completely recover from.
The Orient used to serve as an imaginary escape from one's ordinary surroundings.
There has always been a certain exotic mystique connected with the Orient.
It may range from images and fantasies of harems filled with sensual belly-dancing women to hashish-smoking pipes to beautiful landscapes and architecture, all of which embodied a different outlook and philosophy on life.
Images of this kind had gained popularity mainly from the 18th century onward, and they were propagated with political reasons in mind.
Both England and France had started to explore the reaches of the globe and thought about gaining and expanding influence through colonization in Oriental regions, as was the case with the British in India, for instance.
Studies that were deemed scholarly had been done with an ethnocentric worldview in which the Orient was represented as weak and backward, while the West, self-proclaiming itself to be a forward-moving, technological and modern entity intended to bring the rest of the world up to their standards.
Divisions such as developed and developing worlds reflect a similar tendency of dividing countries into rich and poor, modern and backward, us and them.
And nowhere has this tendency been more prevalent than in the current conflicts in the Middle East and the war on terrorism.
Despite the Internet and the facility of transportation and travel, many people still fail to see beyond their own limited perceptions of the Orient.
Karl Marx once claimed that the Orient cannot represent itself, and hence needs to be represented.
This stance implies that the Orient lacks the capacity to stand on its own feet and make itself heard.
The view of the Orient has been successfully controlled, not to say, manipulated by the West for economic and political benefits.
Although Said's book is focused more on the Middle East, the findings also apply to the Far East.
These stereotypes about Orientals can be reduced through direct contact with individuals from this country and frequent trips to the regions.
It would also be necessary for us to realize that divisions -- whether geographical, cultural, religious or ideological -- between the East and West are, after all, arbitrary and imaginary.
He claims that Western culture, mostly superpowers like Britain and France, "created" a certain image of Orientals that suited them ideologically and politically, a stereotypical, biased and ethnocentric view that the modern West has still not been able to completely recover from.
The Orient used to serve as an imaginary escape from one's ordinary surroundings.
There has always been a certain exotic mystique connected with the Orient.
It may range from images and fantasies of harems filled with sensual belly-dancing women to hashish-smoking pipes to beautiful landscapes and architecture, all of which embodied a different outlook and philosophy on life.
Images of this kind had gained popularity mainly from the 18th century onward, and they were propagated with political reasons in mind.
Both England and France had started to explore the reaches of the globe and thought about gaining and expanding influence through colonization in Oriental regions, as was the case with the British in India, for instance.
Studies that were deemed scholarly had been done with an ethnocentric worldview in which the Orient was represented as weak and backward, while the West, self-proclaiming itself to be a forward-moving, technological and modern entity intended to bring the rest of the world up to their standards.
Divisions such as developed and developing worlds reflect a similar tendency of dividing countries into rich and poor, modern and backward, us and them.
And nowhere has this tendency been more prevalent than in the current conflicts in the Middle East and the war on terrorism.
Despite the Internet and the facility of transportation and travel, many people still fail to see beyond their own limited perceptions of the Orient.
Karl Marx once claimed that the Orient cannot represent itself, and hence needs to be represented.
This stance implies that the Orient lacks the capacity to stand on its own feet and make itself heard.
The view of the Orient has been successfully controlled, not to say, manipulated by the West for economic and political benefits.
Although Said's book is focused more on the Middle East, the findings also apply to the Far East.
These stereotypes about Orientals can be reduced through direct contact with individuals from this country and frequent trips to the regions.
It would also be necessary for us to realize that divisions -- whether geographical, cultural, religious or ideological -- between the East and West are, after all, arbitrary and imaginary.
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