Orientalism And Orientalism

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On the topic of “orientalism”, Edward Said is certainly not lacking in opinions. His understanding is that when the Europeans created a division between the western and eastern worlds, the western, civilized nations came to be called the occident, and the eastern, less civilized nations were thus referred to as the orient. Said saw a concern however, when the Europeans began generalizing those attributes which they associated with the orient, and then including them in scientific findings and media which would be seen by and thus influence the ideas of the western world. As a result of his understanding of orientalism and his strong arguments against the Western bias, Said is often seen as either a powerful corrective to this bias or a hindrance to open discussion on the topic. Though I cannot say that I wholly agree with either side, I would argue that Edward Said does more to hinder open discussion than he does to correct the bias, which is both evidenced in his own writings as well as those of his dissenting contemporaries. One thing that no scholar can deny is that “Edward Said’s...

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