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Orientalism in simple words
Orientalism introduction said summary
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Orientalism: Defined and Shown Through The Work of Henry Kissinger
Edward Said first published Orientalism in 1978 and the book has continued to open readers' eyes to the true effects of biased thought. Said carefully examines what he calls 'Orientalism' in an attempt to show how different cultures view each other and depend upon other cultures to define their own. This essay will include a brief definition of Orientalism as well as how Henry Kissinger has an Orientalist view upon developing countries, shown through numerous examples from Said's book.
Given on the first few pages of his book, Edward Said allows his readers to absorb the concept of Orientalism early on in his book, adding to the definition throughout. Said presents his definition of Orientalism in three "interdependent" fashions, the first shown through the Orient's place among Western European culture:
The Orient is not only adjacent to Europe; it is also the place of Europe's greatest and richest and oldest colonies, the source of its civilizations and languages, its cultural contestant, and one of its deepest and most recurring images of the Other. In addition, the Orient has helped to define Europe (or the West) as its contrasting image, idea, personality, experience. [pp. 1-2]
Simply put, Said claims that Orientalism represents how Europe has defined themselves against Oriental characteristics. A second form of Orientalism comes from the academic world and is still prevalent in today's society. Said states that "anyone who teaches, writes about, or researches the Orient [regardless of field of study] is an Orientalist, and what he or she does is Orientalism. In a more general sense, this can be seen when academics make the "ontological and epistemological distinction made between 'the Orient' and (most of the time) 'the Occident'" (p 2). Said states that while this form is not as common as in years past, Orientalism will exist so long as these ideas are taught.
As the first of the two definitions deal with the "academic and imaginative meanings of Orientalism," the third meaning is derived from the combination of the first two. Said believes that Orientalism can also be thought of as "the corporate institution for dealing with the Orient- dealing with it by making statements about it, authorizing views of it, describing it, by teaching it, settling it, ruling over it: in short, Orientalism as a Western style, for dominating, restructuring, and having authority over the Orient" (p 3).
Orientalism is the misconception by Westerners of foreign people from the
Conrad Kottak, in the eleventh chapter of his textbook on cultural anthropology sought to deconstruct ethnicity in the modern world and how it has evolved over time. He wrote that “ethnicity is based on actual, perceived, or assumed cultural similarities” (Kottak 2012). While ethnicity is based in differences, he discussed at length the origins of race and ethnicity and the diverging opinions as to where it all began, then diverged. He argued that humans are cultural rather than biologic and contrasts in society great affect how humans organize and define themselves. There was a overview of ethnicity structures in Asia, specifically in Japan and Korea, as well as the United States and Brazil. Kottak also defined what the word “nation” really means and its connotations; assim...
Ethnocentrism is a profound habit and a steady propensity, however its significance to political issues relies on upon the circumstances at hand. The United States is often accused of being unduly arrogant in world affairs or intervening in other nations affairs for self-interest with ill intentions rather than have the pure intention to promote freedom and democracy. Believing that America should foist its practices of democracy in the Middle East can be considered in partaking in ethnocentric thinking (Stoller, par. 12). Ethnocentric Americans favored military intercession over diplomatic strategy.
But, utilizing both Napoleon’s ideas on national hegemony and also Hegel’s views on the evolution and progression of consciousness clearly show that the Orient, particularly in the era after Sykes-Picot, was a region doomed to conflict and turmoil. This internecine conflict infamously linked to the Orient has now clouded our scholarly and geopolitical understanding of the area, making it our scholarly imperative to analyze and assess the modern Orient as 1) a product of Anglo-French interests and 2) as a region arbitrarily categorized into states entirely unprepared for the prospect of nation
Introduction: The epoch of imperialism cannot be defined simply as a proliferation of inflated egos tied to the hardened opinions of nationalists, but also a multi-faceted global rivalry with roots of philosophies tainted with racism and social Darwinism. The technique of each imperialist was specific to the motivations and desires of each combative, predominantly Western power and subsequently impacted the success of each imperialist and its colonies. Driven by industrialization, Europeans are aware of the urgent need for raw materials and new markets to maintain a constant rate of expansion and wealth. Imperialism became a competition; in general, the European countries led with fervor while the non-Western regions deemed likely to be stepped on.
Orientalism, which became famous as a term after Edward Said’s book written in 1978, explains a power relation between the Orient and the Occident inspiring from the Foucault’s The Archeology of Knowledge and
Having understood that the world has taken the form it has through the domination or imperialism of Western countries, it is said that they are the agents that have greatly influenced the world; their ideologies in addition to their political as well as economic influences have spread across the globe through time (Headrick, 1981).
Orientalism as termed by Edward Said is meant to create awareness of a constellation of assumptions that are flawed and underlying Western attitudes towards the Muslim societies. Evidence from his 1978 book “Orientalism”, states that the culture has been of influence and marred with controversy in post colonial studies and other fields of study. Moreover, the scholarship is surrounded by somehow persistent and otherwise subtle prejudice of Eurocentric nature, which is against Islam religion and culture (Windschuttle, 1999). In his book, Said illustrates through arguments, that the long tradition in existence containing romanticized images of Islamic stronghold regions i.e. Middle East, and the Western culture have for a long time served as implicit justifications for the European and American Imperial ambitions. In light of this, Said denounced the practice of influential Arabs who contributed to the internalization of Arabic culture ideas by US and British orientalists. Thus, his hypothesis that Western scholarship on Muslim was historically flawed and essentially continues to misrepresent the reality of Muslim people. In lieu to this, Said quotes that, “So far as the United States seems to be concerned, it is only a slight overstatement to say that Muslims and Arabs are essentially seen as either oil suppliers or potential terrorists. Therefore, very few details such as human density, the passion of Arab-Muslim life has entered the awareness of even the people whose profession revolve around reporting of the Arab world. Due to this, we have instead a series of crude, essentialized caricatures of the Islamic world presented in such a way as to make that world vulnerable to military aggression” (Said, 1980).
New imperialism was the mid nineteenth and twentieth centuries cultural equivalent to a modern day mafia, its roots entangled in the economic, cultural, and humanistic aspects of life. The sole objective of the nations entailed the exploitation of their controlled state. Gestating from the change in control of Asian and African nations to the Europeans by means of political deviance, malicious sieges, and strategic military attacks. The juxtaposition to the modern equivalent endures as the aforesaid is sheltered by the fairytale that these nations were in need of aid and by doing so the Europeans were the good guys. The ideas of new imperialism are greatly influenced by those of the enlightenment. Taking place during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries the enlightenment was an intellectual movement with the goal of social progress (Genova, 1/11). Armed with scientific thought and reason, enlightenment thinkers set out to explore the fields of science, economics, and human nature. Brilliant minds such as Voltaire, Kant and others all across Western Europe collaborated to further knowledge. The enlightenment laid the foundation on which new imperialism sprung, embedding the ideas of an incessant need to explore not only the scientific world but the physical world as well. The enlightenments goals and ideas significantly influenced new imperialism, because the enlightenment created a need for new means and a purpose to accrue them.
According to Said, one definition of Orientalism is that it is a "style of thought based upon an ontological and epistemological distinction made between 'the Orient' and the 'Occident'." This is connected to the idea that Western society, or Europe in this case, is superior in comparison to cultures that are non-European, or the Orient. This means that Orientalism is a kind of racism held toward anyone not European. Said wrote that Orientalism was "a Western style for dominating, restructuring, and having authority over the Orient." This Western idea of the Orient explains why so many European countries occupied lands they believed to be Oriental.
Ethnocentrism and cultural relativism are two contrasting terms that are displayed by different people all over the world. Simply put, ethnocentrism is defined as “judging other groups from the perspective of one’s own cultural point of view.” Cultural relativism, on the other hand, is defined as “the view that all beliefs are equally valid and that truth itself is relative, depending on the situation, environment, and individual.” Each of these ideas has found its way into the minds of people worldwide. The difficult part is attempting to understand why an individual portrays one or the other. It is a question that anthropologists have been asking themselves for years.
Globalization is becoming one of the most controversial topics in today’s world. We see people arguing over the loss of a nation’s cultural identity, the terror of westernization, and the reign of cultural imperialism. Through topics such as these we explore the possibilities or the existence of hybridization of cultures and values, and what some feel is the exploitation of their heritage. One important aspect that is not explored is that such influences can also be more than just a burden and an overstepping of bounds. These factors can create an educational environment as well as a reaffirmation of one’s own culture.
Second, in Said's own words "Orientalism is a style of thought based upon an ontological and epistemological distinction made between "the Orient" and (most of the time) "the Occident"" (2). And now we come to Said's third definition of Orientalism:
Sherlock Holmes, a name most people would know if they were to hear it, has come to greatly influence the modern world of mysteries. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle had no idea a character he started to write about for the first time in 1887 would still be carried alive by other TV and movie producers in 2014. Doyle also never new that Holmes would become such a popular character or result in a name mostly everybody would know. Even if there was a person who did not know who or what Sherlock Holmes was, they are certain to have at least heard his name before. “Doyle turned his principal character into a household word” (Haining 7). Doyle started a legacy that lives on forever. Sherlock Holmes personality and looks may change with every generation he is in, but his main characteristics remain the same. Sherlock Holmes’ style of deduction, great sense of observation and strange personality in Arthur Doyle’s stories influenced how TV and movie producers would portray Holmes in their version of Doyle’s mysteries in shows such as Elementary and Sherlock.
... its proper expressions, structure and grammar. Moreover, each language is linked to a specific dialect which is associated with educational, economic, social and historical conditions. Moreover, cultural variations also exist in the rules for general discourse in oral communication. Similar to verbal communication, there are also variations in non-verbal communication between cultures. Gestures, facial expressions, sense of time and personal distance take different forms in different cultures. Furthermore, there is an infinite number of cultural diversities which are at the root of intercultural miscommunication. Variations in values , social relationships, religion, economy and politics consist of only a few of these diversities. These differences can be the source of ethnocentrism, if one becomes over patriotic in regards to one’s own culture. Ethnocentrism, is the concept which states that we tend to judge other cultures through our own. Ethnocentric behavior, can cause racism and chauvinism, as in the case of the Second World War. However, intercultural problems can be avoided if we all develop mindfulness, a sense of flexibility and seek information about the other culture.