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Orientalism
Orientalism is the study of Near and
Far Eastern societies and cultures by Westerners. It can
also refer to the imitation or depiction of aspects of
Eastern cultures in the West by writers, designers and
artists. In the former meaning the term is becoming obsolete,
increasingly being used only to refer to the study of
the East during the historical period of European imperialism
in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Because of
this, the term "Orientalism" has come to acquire
negative connotations in some quarters, implying old-fashioned
and prejudiced interpretations of Eastern cultures and
peoples. This viewpoint was most famously articulated
by Edward Said in his book Orientalism (1978).
Meaning Of The Term
Like the term "Orient" itself
"Orientalism" derives from a Latin word Oriens
referring simply to the rising of the sun, to imply "the
East" in the most general sense. Unless one is travelling
on the Orient Express, the "Orient" is a vague
destination. "Orient" and "Oriental"
have been used in English to refer to both Near and Far
Eastern countries. Similar terms are the French-derived
"Levant" and "Anatolia," from the
Greek anatole, two further locutions for the direction
in which the sun rises.
When used with a racial meaning, "oriental"
is usually a synonym for "East Asian", excluding
Indians, Arabians and other more westerly peoples. This
can cause some confusion about the historical scope of
Oriental studies.
Orientalism
It is difficult to be precise about
the origin of the distinction between the "West"
and the "East". However the rise of both Christianity
and Islam produced a sharp opposition between European
Christian cultures their enemies to the East and in North
Africa. During the Middle Ages Islamic peoples were demonised
as "alien" enemies of Christendom. European
knowledge of cultures further to the East was very sketchy
indeed. Nevertheless, there was a vague awareness that
complex civilisations existed in India and China, from
which luxury goods such as woven textiles and ceramics
were imported. As European explorations and colonisations
expanded a distinction emerged between non-literate peoples,
for example in Africa and America, and the literate and
intellectually complex cultures of the East.
In the eighteenth century Enlightenment
thinkers sometimes characterised aspects of Eastern cultures
as superior to the Christian West. For example Voltaire
promoted research into Zoroastrianism in the belief that
it would support a rational Deism superior to Christianity.
Others praised the religious tolerance of Islamic countries
in contrast with the Christian West, or the status of
scholarship in Mandarin China. With the translation of
the Avesta by Abraham Anquetil-Duperron and the discovery
of the Indo-European languages by William Jones complex
connections between the early history of Eastern and Western
cultures emerged. However, these developments occurred
in the context of rivalry between France and Britain for
control of India, and were associated with attempts to
understand colonised cultures in order more effectively
to control them. Liberal economists such as James Mill
denigrated Eastern countries on the grounds that their
civilizations were static and corrupt. Even Karl Marx
characterised the "Asiatic mode of production"
as unchanging. Christian evangelists sought to denigrate
Eastern religious traditions as superstitions (see Juggernaut).
Despite this, the first serious studies
of Buddhism and Hinduism were undertaken by scholars such
as Eugene Burnouf and Max Müller. By the mid-nineteenth
century "Oriental studies" was becoming an established
academic discipline. However, while scholarly study expanded,
so did racist attitudes and popular stereotypes of "inscrutible"
and "wily" orientals. Often scholarly ideas
were intertwined with such prejudicial racial or religious
assumptions. Eastern art and literature were still seen
as "exotic" and as inferior to Classical Graeco-Roman
ideals. Their political and economic systems were generally
thought to be feudal "oriental despotisms" and
their alleged cultural inertia was considered to be resistant
to progress. Many critical theorists regard this form
of Orientalism as part of a larger, ideological colonialism
justified by the concept of the "white man's burden".
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