Said's Orientalism

Said's orientalism is another case of the West versus the East, but in this case mostly culturally. It's a story of the West's domination of its Other, the East or the "Orient." It's a method of distancing oneself from the Other by generalizing the Orient as a completely contrasting, mysterious, and less-developed culture.

Orientalism is still present today. With immigration as a hot topic at political debates these days, there have been some infamous and terrible stereotypes and generalizations made about Mexicans as well as Muslims. Another prevalent issue today is the cultural appropriation that occurs all too often. It's another practice of generalizing a culture and exploiting an aspect of it for personal use. This is another form of domination by stripping a culture of a significant detail and westernizing it for no real reason.

I hope to one day see a world where orientalism is no longer and issue, but I must admit, that world is hard to imagine.

Can East Meet West?

Orientalism, according to Said, was the way that the West negatively viewed the East (non western cultures). This view supported and encouraged the political dominance of imperialism. Westerners accepted and internalized this view to allow them to rationalize their imperialistic beliefs and actions towards other cultures. This was epitomized by Westerns view of Eastern as "sly, devious, despotic, mystical". By applying these stereotypes to Easterners, Westerners were able to separate themselves and make themselves seem superior and really believe they were.

One of the fundamental stereotypes of twentieth century orientalism is that easterners are religious fanatic and incapable of practical beliefs. This attitude persist to this day. You can observe this by the way westerners fear Muslims. They believe all Muslims are radical Islamic who want to impose their fanatical beliefs on Westerners at any cost. Including Jihad. Certain republican presidential candidates are capitalizing on this stereotype and making people fearful to gain a political advantage. However, I remain optimistic that cooler heads prevail among my peers.

Orientalism

Edward Said's theory of orientalism talks about how the Western world, and Western society, regard and portray the Eastern part of the world. Often when the Eastern world is portrayed in Western novels, films, ect, it is shown as very exotic, showcasing stereotypes that have been forced upon the cultures that live there for many years. Many times, this takes the form of showing cultures as more primitive than Western cultures, which adds to a "mysterious" sense to cultures other than the prevalent Western ones.

This issue is still very alive in today's world. When many people think of cultures and people other than Western ones, or their own culture in other cases, the thoughts may be mysterious, exotic, mystical, ect because of what media and society has conditioned us to think about them. It works very much like racism, and is helping Western culture to dominate and oppress other cultures that may not be seen as equal to theirs. Especially in America, many people have learned to fear a lot of countries, people, and cultures in the Middle East because of terrorism. This fear then is loosely applied to anyone who may remotely fit the stereotypical image of a "terrorist," and can then be applied to many different cultures that may have nothing to do with the terrorism that is feared in the US.

Orientalism

According to Edward Said, Orientalism can be seen as the way that Westerners view, exaggerate, and distort differences between the Western culture and that of the Orient, being comprised of the Middle East and the rest of Asia.  In Said's book Orientalism, he references Joseph Conrad's novella Heart of Darkness.  Although the main events of Conrad's story occur in Africa, Said attempted to compare the idea of Orientalism to that of Imperialism, which is referenced numerous times in Heart of Darkness.  Instead of criticizing the author's depiction of the savage culture found in the Congo, Said saw that Conrad recognized the idea of imperialism as false mental construct of the Europeans, similar to what he believed to be true about the notion of Orientalism.

I would have to agree with Said's argument on the existence of Orientalism.  In most of the depictions of people in "the Orient" that we see in art created by Europeans in the 19th century, we see the artist's intention to show the exotic and mysterious aspects of those people.  As these depictions were brought to Europe, the mindset toward people of the Orient was changed, aiding the Europeans in their drive to colonize the mysterious and unknown parts of the world.

Orientalism and Iron Fist

Orientalism is an example of unconsidered racism that is used to make the western world feel superior to the east. Like imperialist views of Africa and Africans, Orientalism views Eastern peoples as primitive, mystical, and ultimately inferior. It is so deeply ingrained in today's culture that many people don't realize how biased and in many cases racist their learned beliefs of Eastern culture are.

An example of how orientalism is still present in today's society is the recent drama surrounding Netflix's upcoming series Iron Fist. Iron Fist is a superhero who originally appeared in Marvel Comics in 1974. He was an American boy who went to the East and was taught mystical powers and martial arts by a mystical Asian man, before killing a dragon to become the Iron Fist. Just based on that it is easy to see the effects of orientalism in a story where a white man goes to the East and learns mystical things and karate. Last week Iron Fist was thrust into the headlines when a white British actor, Finn Jones, was cast in the role. Many felt it should have gone to an Asian actor and the fact it didn't was an example of continued Hollywood white washing. But perhaps they are wrong. While it is true that more major roles are needed for Asian actors, why is it this role that is generating the uproar? It seems people hear "mystical Kung-Fu master" and assume "Asian". While the people complaining likely have good intentions, this example shows how deeply ingrained, racist Orientalism is still alive and well in today's culture.

Stick to the Stuff You Know

Orientalism is the Western way of regarding the East. It views the different cultures of the East as exotic, foreign, and at times primitive. Orientalism exalts Western society while dehumanizing people from the East. Said in his Theory of Orientalism asserts that these ideas extended beyond imperialism. Orientalist ideologies have been expressed in works of literature such as "Heart of Darkness", poems, songs, and paintings. These ideas result in exploitation of the East.

I believe that we still have an Orientalist mindset. In "The God of Small Things" when Sophie Mol's hands were getting sniffed by the cook and Margaret was asking about it, Ammu suddenly gets upset at her treating them as if they are some kind of natives for her to gawk at. That scene made me take pause because I feel like witnessing the same thing I would act like Margaret Kochamma. This scene really made Orientalism resonate with me. It's the arrogant assumption that we as Westerners do everything the "right" and "normal" way. I really appreciate the moments in the book like these that force me to really stop and think and encourage myself to self evaluate.

The Fear of Distortion and Inaccuracy

Orientalism is basically another way of saying how the dominant West makes generalizations about large areas of the world that they do not fully understand, that area being the East. The West, or the Occident, views the East, or the "Orient" as strange and mysterious. The Orient does not simply refer to an area of land. It refers to the culture, the vocabulary, the doctrines, and the values of the East. Orientalism has also become a western mode for dealing with the Orient. It is a way to teach, describe, settle, and rule over the East in a way that makes it appear that the West understands, even when that seems impossible.

Edward Said wraps up his introduction by revealing his two biggest fears when it comes to talking about the topic of Orientalism. Distortion and inaccuracy. I think that fear is the embodiment of this entire topic. Everyone's view is going to be warped by their "own contemporary reality." I think that makes it difficult to get an unbiased view because one would either come from the "East" or the "West." But even that being said, I believe that Orientalism still exists in the world. The biggest example probably being the westerner's view of the Middle East. The common feeling of people in the West is one of superiority but also puzzlement. The values and ways of life are so fundamentally different in many ways that it makes it easy to view them as the mysterious East.

Orientalism From Both Sides

Orientalism is the way Western people view the East, based on how Eastern countries and people are represented in history and in the media. The Orientalist mindset supports a warped view of the East as an exotic, mysterious place full of "sly, devious, despotic, mystical" people. The concept implies Western superiority over Eastern countries. Although he did not invent the term, Edward Said is an important figure for Orientalism, and a credible source of knowledge about the way it works and the way it came to be.

Through her novel "The God of Small Things," Arundhati Roy embodies Said's critiques of Orientalism in a way that could touch anyone. Roy's perspective is valuable to the critique of Orientalism since she uses her upbringing to incorporate insights from both the East and the West. The God of Small Things offers commentary on Orientalism from an Eastern perspective, which is important to understanding Orientalism as a two sided affair. Through references to Western media and her description of the relationship between Estha and Rahel's family with Margaret Kochamma and Sophie Mol, Roy suggests a learned inferiority complex from the East regarding the West. The novel never explicitly comments on the way the West views the East, but is stacked with commentary on the blind approval of everything Western from members of Estha and Rahel's family, specifically the older members. The God of Small Things turns the idea of Orientalism into a full bodied concept, instead of one that is viewed from just one side.

Said's Orientalism

Said's Orientalism can be defined by the idea of the West promoting a sense of difference between our society and that of the Middle to Far East. By thinking this way, the West had and has the means to dominate the region in a political, social, and economic sense. The Middle East and other regions that create the area that Said talks about are seen as being at a sort of lower and less developed level of civilization than the European countries and the United States. To him, the West sees the region as simply being incapable on all ends in comparison to Western society. The idea of Orientalism came about when European countries began to take control of the "Oriental" region with both political and economic goals. Since then, the West has continued to use and, in a sense, abuse this region with constant exploitation. Now, with so-called postcolonialism, the West is trying to detach itself from the idea of imperialism. People have recognized this idea of Orientalism and have criticized it on its ill-treatment of the region that seemingly makes up a large portion of the world.

I still think that we have an Orientalist mindset today, and to me, this is definitely not good. However, I don't think that it stems from the region itself and what it "lacks" in comparison to the West. I think that the main reason for today's Orientalism (which, don't get me wrong, can still be tied back to the original sense) is a sense of Western hunger for supremacy rather than looking more at the Middle East and Far East's "flaws". Donald Trump comes to mind. Why do we need to make America "great" again? Why can't we just be America. Also, there is a lot of emphasis on idea that America is the perfect country. Our rampant patriotism is becoming a flaw that singles us out and only points at our need for supremacy over others.

Orientalism

Edward Said defines orientalism simply as the idea expressed by us (the U.S., Europe...) about our superiority over the orient (the east, India...). He describes this idea in a few ways, including our view of the east as mystic and strange in comparison to our world. Said contributes some of blame for this outlook to the west's imperialistic actions toward the east. This is not most certainly not the first time this has happened.

This seems to be a recurring outcome in history. An imperialistic nation come across a less developed group and soon after, new ideas get embedded in the minds of the entire nation. Is patriotism and believing one's nation to be superior a bad thing? not always. Is believing other nations to be less human or somehow less deserving a bad thing? absolutely. It bugs me that ideas such as orientalism are able to persist for so long, affecting nations full of people.

The Study of "Them"

Orientalism derives it's meaning from the most simple of conflicts: Us vs Them. Familiar vs Strange. East vs West. Two cultures running parallel to the other. Defined by their differences. These differences that don't make them equal however. In fact, the West is in total domination, wholly controlling reputation of the East. His post-colonial theory shows how so much of the Wests perceived strength is drawn from it's setting when juxtaposed with the East.

Orientalism, just like racism, is still alive and well today. Just like African Americans, Muslims are routinely used as the scapegoat for the world's problems, and the conservative media has made them representatives of their hemisphere. It creates a strong sense of East vs West, and with people like Trump dominating the Republican primaries, I don't think its going away anytime soon.

Orientalism Today

In Edward Said's Orientalism, Said creates a new definition of orientalism. He defines it as the West heavily trying to influence and imperialize the west. His view forces people to see the East in a new way because it makes it seem as if the East is inferior to the West. This has been an ongoing thing in society; the West has always had some kind of power of the East and how they are viewed by the rest of the world. All of the power lies in the West, while the East is being over-powered by the East. Orientalism has an interesting effect on the way Western culture is viewed. It makes it seem as if the culture and norms of Western culture is the best to have in any society, and gives the West the power to enforce those powers.

In today's society, I think that there is still a lot of orientalism, though it may not be super obvious because it seems to be something that society is used to. I think that the constant fear of Muslims that Western culture has enforced is a big part of modern day orientalism. It has forced people to look at any Muslim as someone who's a terrorist, even if they are nothing close to that. The West has really forced a strong feeling of fear of the East onto people, proving their power.

I don't want to speak for everyone in Western culture, but I do think that orientalism has effected all of our lives, especially today with the amount of Islamaphobia imprinted into our minds. I think that it is something we think is normal because it's something we've heard almost all of our lives, but in reality it is all an effect of orientalism.

The West's Quest For Superiority

In Edward Said's article "Orientalism", Said defines Orientalism is three ways. He states that anyone who studies the Orient is doing what he would call Orientalism. He also defines Orientalism as the distinction between the Orient and the Occident (East vs. West). Finally, Said defines Orientalism as the way that the West derives power from domination of the East's culture. The West created an image of the East as a mysterious and scary place that is unsophisticated in comparison to the West. Ultimately, it is the way that the West preys on the East's culture in an attempt to gain power and superiority over the East.

Orientalism continues to be a integral part of the West's mindset today. Specifically in America, we are still taught to fear the East as it is wildly unpredictable. For example, we are taught to fear the East because it is where the people who want to destroy America because of our superior culture. This creates the idea that the East is hostile to America because of our superiority. It is the way that America is still able to establish dominance over the East. 

Oreintalism; Another One

The key to sucessful imperialism is to seperate the subject and opressor completely. Seperation lays the foundation for superiority. Orientalism was yet another binary established by the Western word (coined the Occident by Said) to establish their superiority. Orientalism is a mindset of false admiration by making the Orient (Eastern Asia) unwordly and different from the Occident. It makes out Orients to be mystical, illogical, and reduces complicated social structures to strange fanatacisms. Orientalism was used as one way in Western cuture to seperate the Occident from the Oriental through their dehumanization.

Today, I'd like to believe that oreintalism has decreased significantly. With old physical proximities breached by interent conections, I think we (as a Western majority) are able to understand others and learn that humanities traits and beliefs extend beyond the Occident. Though the Western world has a significant amount of generalizations to over come, such as the sterotypes perpetrated against Musims, I believe that we still have come a long way from the mystification of Eastern cultures present in our past.

Us vs. Them

Edward Said defines Orientalism as a pattern of making certain generalization about the part of the world known as the East. He specifically states, “Orientalism was ultimately a political vision of reality whose structure promoted the difference between the familiar (Europe, West, “us”) and the strange (the Orient, the East, “them”)” (3). He continues on to say that Orientalism is a theory to most people, but it needs to start be looked at as reality. The stereotypes that follow it prove that the theory are real today. The idea of Orientalism creates an inverse relationship between the East and West. The East is portrayed as unorganized and chaotic and the West is analyzed as superior and great.

The stereotypes and suggestive differences are evident in the present-day Western culture. Due to Orientalism, the East will never be equal to the West. A typical stereotype is that laborers are paid less in the East than in the West. I think not only is this stereotype true, but the West utilizes their cheap labor to improve their own economy. The West clearly embraces the stereotype and even takes advantage of it. Also, in pop culture, it is evident that there is clear division between the East and West. The way that movies portray the East is mostly violent and the government there is unorganized. Meanwhile, the West is displayed as cheerful and well established. I think that today people have an Orientalist mindset even if they claim that they have put previous judgments behind them.

Edward Said's Theory of Orientalism

According to Edward Said, Orientalism is a way of coming to terms with the Orient that is based on the Orient's special place in European culture. A summary of the Orientalist mindset would be that the East and West's ways of life follow two separate paths that will never meet. Orientalism helps define Western Culture based on its contrasting characteristics. Additionally, it is a Western style of dominating, reconstructing, and having power over the Orient.

Edward Said's book, Orientalism, aims to break down the myth that Orientals are strange and untrustworthy people. He was not a fan of Western enlightenment traditions and colonialism. For example, many people thought Joseph Conrad was a racist white man, but Edward Said praised Conrad for his images of the Congo in his book, Heart of Darkness. Edward Said's postcolonial theory forces us to see that Western Culture's strength and identity derives from setting itself off against the Orient as a substitute.

I think the Orientalist mindset has definitely decreased among our Western Culture, but their are still issues. For example, the way that some people view Muslims in our culture is very much still an issue. There is a large population of Muslims in the Middle East. I remember watching an episode of the show 30 Days. In the episode I was watching, a white catholic man went to go live with a Muslim family for 30 days. During the show they asked pedestrians to say the first word that came to mind when they heard the word, Muslim. Almost all said "terrorist", "9/11", and "Al Qaeda". I think this is a good example that shows the stereotypes that follow Muslims everyday and the issues they have to face in today's Western's Culture.

Orientalism

Edward Said describes Orientalism as promoting the difference between the East and the West. He explains how Orientalism developed only shortly after Europeans met people of the East. Orientalism is  a way for the West to establish dominance and authority over the East. Orientalism is a way for Westerners to make negative generalizations or stereotypes about the East. In Said´s article he says Eastern people can be described as sly and mischievous. Because of Orientalism, people in the East are primarily viewed as inferior to Westerners.

I do believe Orientalism still manifests in Western, especially American culture today. Especially after September 11, 2001, the East is viewed by many Americans as a scary, foreign place where terrorists live. Donald Trump also carries out the theory of Orientalism by openly preaching about his hatred for Muslims, a religion practiced by many in the East, and making others in America also fear them. These are just a couple of the many examples of the Western world establishing dominance over the East. 

History House

Orientalism is the distinction between the East and West pertaining to depictions of the Orient. Said describes that Western culture thrives off of its portrayal of the the East as inferior, and as a place that is in need of rescue and perhaps Western intervention. The West describes the East as "an ideal and unchanging abstraction," which represents not only their distortion and inaccuracy of reality, but the failure to mutually recognize these "different" people as fully human. The Occident has no full context or appropriate perspective to theorize and romanticize the East in this way. Orientalist imagery is reinforced throughout Western culture as a way to further otherize, exotify, and dehumanize Eastern culture.

 

I see the manifestation of Orientalism in most of our American culture, especially in our acceptance of Eastern culture as everything except for fully humanized. In The God of Small Things, Roy uses Chacko's, History House to describe the connection between Orientalism and the Orient. The Orient is locked out of their own culture because the Occident controls and owns the creation of Eastern culture itself. The Easterner is pushed outside of their own history because its ownership lies in the hands of the Westerner. Roy writes, "Pointed in the wrong direction, trapped outside their own history and unable to retrace their steps because their footprints had been swept away. He explained that history was like an old house at night. With all the lamps lit. And ancestors whispering inside" (90). 

Orientalism? More like NOrientalism!

Edward Said defines the classic European idea of the Oriental as mysterious, conniving, and religiously fanatic. Orientalism is the fascination with an inaccurate stereotype that Westerners have created concerning Easterners. The stereotypes involved reduce complicated societies to "heathen worshipers," strange magicians, and exotic simplifications of Eastern cultures.

I think that in some ways we still do have an Orientalist mindset, although I think it looks pretty different now. In the late 1800s, several European countries (particularly England) started becoming obsessed with Japanese "culture," even though their version of Japanese culture was highly westernized. They wore kimonos and held Japanese fans and hung their walls with Japanese-styled art. Today, a lot of people in America do the same thing, except that now we have a name for it: Weeaboos. American and English people who watch lots of anime and say "konichiwa" a lot without actually knowing any real Japanese. It might not be exactly the same thing, but the central problem is still there: the romanticization of a culture we view to be "different" from our own.

East and West

Orientalism is essentially the set of ideas used to establish authority over and control the Orient/East by the Occident/West. People think of the "Orient" and the "Occident" of just being geographical locations and logical designations. However, they are more a reflection of ideas about the regions/cultures, and as a rule these ideas tend to be those that favor the West and negatively portray the East. These basically reflect the difference in power between the East and West.

I'd say that Orientalism is... a thing that exists. I think you can pretty easily find things like negative stereotypes and portrayals of the "Orient" (although if anyone's still calling it that you're probably ten times more likely to be in for racism and stereotypes.) I can't say I think all that much has changed, really, except to add a lot more fear and Islamophobia to the mix. Other than that I don't really feel qualified to say anything on the matter, especially without having a more detailed understanding of what Said is arguing in the first place.