Orientalist Mindset

After learning more about Edward Said’s idea of Orientalism, I realized how often Orientalism appears in my everyday life. I feel that every culture is highly unique in their regards to art, colloquialisms, and lifestyles. Especially in America each part of the country have separate colloquialisms and ways they view the world based on their own upbringings. Living in a big city like Chicago, I have my own unconscious Orientalist mindset. The majority of people develop this mindset due to the media and how undeveloped countries are showcased. I have had the privilege of traveling to many countries with my family every year, because of this I have an advantage of knowing what the rest of the world is like. I’ve been to other developed cities such as Paris and Barcelona, but I’ve also gotten to see less developed places like Riobamba Ecuador. While in Ecuador, I was on a service trip where I got to tutor kids in English at a school that had little resources. Going into the first day of tutoring, of course, I had preconceived notions about what the school and students would be like. I was proved wrong. Coming from the states and being told that this schooling experience was going to be much different from my own, I thought different meant lesser. I realized that when something is different and in a different location than one is used to it doesn't mean it's any less of an education. My Orientalist mindset caused me to be nervous and closed off at first, but these kids are just like me and my friends. They love to play soccer, sing, play games and just talk about random stuff. This trip was a great experience which allowed me to spread knowledge to my peers and get a better understanding of how different communities function. In order to move past this idea of Orientalism, people need to educate themselves on other cultures and regions of the world in order to gain a mutual respect for one another whether that be through travel, reading, or communicating with others.