Orientalism ....

Orientalism .....

      

Transcript of the interview of Edward said on Orientalism

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Orientalism is term used by edward said !!! 

He has written a book called "Orientalism". The book is translated in 26 languages. He is saying that Orientalism is a theory,   analyze the various lenses through which west is looking towards east. In his interview with MEF, he has talked deeply on his book Orientalism. 

What is Orientalism !!!!!!


Orientalism is term used by art historians and literary and cultural studies scholars for the imitation or depiction of aspects in middle eastern , south  Asian , and east Asian cultures . These depictions are usually  Done by writers , designs , and artists from the west ... (Wiki )...


1)     Orientalism  began for two reasons, one it was an immediate thing, that is to say, the Arab-Israeli War of 1973, which had been preceded  by a lot of images and discussions in the media in the popular press about how the  Arabs are cowardly and they don't know how to fight and they are always going to be beaten because they are not modern.


2) The central argument of Orientalism is that the way that we acquire this knowledge is not innocent or objective but the end result of a process that reflects certain interests. That is, it is highly motivated. Specifically Said argues that the way the West, Europe and the U.S. looks at the countries and peoples of the Middle East is through a lens that distorts the actual reality of those places and those people. He calls this lens through which we view that part of the world Orientalism,  a framework that we use to understand the unfamiliar and the strange; to make the peoples of the Middle East appear differentand threatening.



3) Professor Said's analysis of Orientalism isn't just a description of its
content but a sustained argument for why it looks the way it does. It's an examination of the quite concrete, historical and institutional context that creates it. Specifically Said locates the construction of Orientalism within the history of Imperial conquest. As empires spread across the globe historically the British and the French have been the
most important in terms of the East. They conquer not only militarily but also what we could call ideologically.


4.) “The difference between British and French Orientalism on the one hand and the American experience of the Orient on the other is that the American one is much more indirect, much more based on abstractions.”
In the past, British and French Orientalism was direct and now the American Orientalism is indirect. It questions the power system in terms of media, popular culture and globalization.

5) Edward said draw on work of Antonio Gramsci,
“Therefore the task at the outset, is to try to compile an inventory,” in
other words to try and make sense of it. And this seems to me to be the most interesting sort of human task. It's the task of interpretation. It's a task of giving history some shape and sense, for a particular reason, not just to show that my history is better than yours, or my history is worse than yours.


Thank you !!!!