Orientalism

Orientalism

In his famous work `Orientalism ' Edward W . Said , Palestinian-born American literary criticist , denounces the notion of the Orient created by literature and propaganda in the West , or the Occident . He refers to the embodiment of the Arab East in European and American mentality as created consistency , regular constellation of ideas ' that has little connection to the Orient as it really exists (133 . The reason for coining such an image was , in Said 's opinion , the need to control the Orient that was always in the relationship of subjugation to the

power existing in the Occident . Said underscores that Orientalist tradition is not merely a group of lies rather , it is an indicator of Western power over the Eastern nations and now amounts to a created body of theory and practice ' that requires significant material investment from its creators (133

Orientalism , in Said 's view , is both a way for Europeans to assert their identity through juxtaposition with `non-Europeans ' and a way of confirming cultural hegemony . The positional hegemony embodied in Orientalism is nevertheless flexible , offering Westerners many different opportunities to imagine what path their lives could have taken in the new , exotic surroundings . Despite this flexibility , Said insists that in the bulk of works about the Orient he sees the same rigid core of ideas imbued with racism and European superiority , raising his two greatest fears of `distortion and inaccuracy (135

From here Said proceeds to a highly perceptive claim that distinction between political discussions and scholarly research is subtler than it seems . A scholar or philosopher writing about literary subjects cannot be `detached ' from one 's race , background , social class , and associated set of beliefs . For this reason scholars often fail to capture the rich reality of life as they try to squeeze it into the procrustean bed of their theories and prejudices . Said draws a distinction between political and civil societies , stating that although studies of foreign nations like the Oriental countries evolves in general in civil societies , they are heavily influenced by ideas and concepts borrowed from political societies . He goes as far as to suppose that an Englishman in India or Egypt in the later nineteenth century took an interest in these countries that was never far from their status in his mind as British colonies , and a few passages later cautiously observes that the minute details of the making of a novel make it far removed from the straightforward application of ideas of domination (137

Said believes that Orientalism is a manifestation of the different kinds of Western power over the Orient - political , cultural , moral and intellectual . His main claim is not to condemn Orientalism he merely wants to bring home the idea that it has to less to do with the Orient than it has with `our ' world (138 . Said compares the influence of domineering political ideology of those times upon and scholars with the degrading impact of monarchy upon Balzac , Locke , and Hume saying that it that takes away from the...