What is the meaning of the term Orientalism?
“Orientalism” is a way of seeing that imagines, emphasizes, exaggerates and distorts differences of Arab peoples and cultures as compared to that of Europe and the U.S. It often involves seeing Arab culture as exotic, backward, uncivilized, and at times dangerous.
What did Sandra W Edward Said say about Orientalism?
Author Sandra W. Edward Said’s valuation and criticism of the set of values, well-known as orientalism outlines the backbone for the postcolonial studies (Trefflich 10). The European nation believed that knowledge is power. He scrutinizes the origins and the evolution of the western attitudes towards the Middle East.
How many chapters are there in the book Orientalism?
Across three chapters, each with four topical sections, Said moves through the discussion of Orientalism, addressing first its scope, then its various structures, and, finally, its most recent iterations.
Why was Orientalism important to European colonialism?
Orientalism provided a rationalization for European colonialism based on a self-serving history in which “the West” constructed “the East” as extremely different and inferior, and therefore in need of Western intervention or “rescue”.
Orientalism is a way of seeing and thus defining Middle Eastern and Asian cultures as inferior, backward, exotic or in need of rescuing by the western world. Though not explicitly stated in such terms, it is a common or intrinsic driver behind stereotypes, advertising, latent prejudice, appropriation, and attempts to “honor” such cultures.
What did Edward W.Said mean by Orientalism?
Edward W. Said’s Orientalism introduces the concept of Orientalism, a force that has shaped Western (Occidental) academic scholarship, cultural imagination and production, and public policy concerning the space known as the Orient.
When was the Golden Age of Orientalism?
In 1873, during the heydays of Western imperialism, the first orientalist congress was held in Paris followed by sixteen others up to World War I, the last being in Vienna in 1912.6 The period, for many known as La belle époque, is today seen as the golden age of orientalism, the study of Asia and Asians in the West.