Abstract Orientalism

Orientalism is a term used to coin the idea that Westerners (specifically Britain and the U.S.) misinterpret culture and social description of the middle east, while also falsely highlighting the differences between the East and the West-- ultimately creating an ¨us¨ and a ¨them¨.

One of the definitions of Orientntalism branches off of domination in which Westerners use Orientalism as a way of ruling over the orient by possessing the belief that the West is ¨better¨ than the East. Due to post-colonialism, Westerners had formed the idea that the East was inferior, and too different to be of equal importance and merit.

Growing up watching things like Aladdin as a child, it is easy to fall into an orientalist mindset. Only now that I have personally learned about Orientalism and just how prominent and built into the culture that it really is, I can . From novels, pictures, paintings, and the media, almost every contact we as citizens have had with the middle east has been Orientalist imagery. Through the constant depiction of the Middle East as somewhere with only deserts, belly dancers, and political unrest, Orientalism has a strong hold on U.S. beliefs.

Through configurations of power as well as false interpretations of the East, Westerners have developed a false impression of the Orient, that may, at this point, be irreversible.