what are some characteristics of orientalism

8/12/2019 What Are Some Characteristics of Orientalism

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What are some characteristics of

orientalism?

I have to list two to three characteristics of Orientalism and how it and prejudice contribute to

hate crimes against Muslims, Arabs, and any other related group.

Best Answer

Zsokaanswered 8 years agoFound this for you. Hope it helps cheers,

For the book by Edward Said, see Orientalism (book).This article is part of the

series on Eastern culture

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West/East distinction

Eastern world The Orient Orientalism

ed

Orientalism is the study of Near and Far Eastern societies and cultures, languages and peoples by

Western scholars. 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 Orientalism has come to acquire negative connotations in some

quarters and is interpreted to refer to the study of the East by Westerners shaped by the attitudesof the era of European imperialism in the 18th and 19th centuries. When used in this sense, it

implies old-fashioned and prejudiced outsider interpretations of Eastern cultures and peoples.

This viewpoint was most famously articulated and propagated by Edward Said in hiscontroversial 1978 book Orientalism, which was critical of this scholarly tradition and of modernscholars including Princeton University professor Bernard Lewis.
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Contents [hide]

1 Meaning of the term2 History of Orientalism

3 Orientalism in the arts

3.1 Imitations of Oriental styles3.2 Depictions of the Orient in art and literature3.3 Examples of Orientalism in the arts

3.3.1 Literature

3.3.2 Opera, ballets, musicals3.3.3 Shorter musical pieces

3.3.4 Theater

3.3.5 Painting

3.3.6 Movies4 Edward Said and "Orientalism"

4.1 Criticisms of Said

5 From "Oriental Studies" to "Asian Studies"6 A mirror image: Eastern views of the West

7 See also

8 Notes

9 External links10 Further reading

[edit]

Meaning of the term

Like the term Orient itself Orientalism derives from a Latin word Oriens referring simply to therising of the sun, to imply "the East" in a relative sense. This is the opposite of the term

Occident, which has largely dropped from common usage. Similar terms are the French-derived

Levant and Anatolia, from the Greek anatole, two further locutions for the direction in which thesun rises.

In terms of The Old World, Europe was considered to be 'The West' or Occidental, and thefurthest known Eastern extremity 'The East' or 'The Orient'.

From at least the time of the Roman Empire until at least the Middle Ages, what is now

considered 'the Middle East' was then considered 'the Orient'. During that period, the flourishingcultures of the Far East were little known, just as Europe was essentially unknown in 'the Far

East.

Over time, the common understanding of 'the Orient' has continually shifted East as Westernexplorers traveled deeper into Asia. In Biblical times, the Three Wise Men 'from the Orient' were

actually Magi from "The East" (relative to Palestine) meaning 'the Persian Empire'. After all

period, as Europe gained knowledge of countries further to the East, the definition of the limit of'the Orient' progressively shifted eastwards, until the Pacific Ocean was reached, in what is also


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known as 'the Far East'. This can cause some confusion about the historical and geographic scope

of Oriental Studies.

However, there still remain some contexts where 'the Orient' or 'Oriental' refer to older

definitions. For example, 'Oriental Spices' typically come from regions extending from the

Middle East through the Indian sub-continent to Indo-China. Also, travel on the Orient Express(from Paris to Istanbul), is eastward bound (towards the sunrise), but does not reach what iscurrently understood to be the Orient.

In contemporary English, Oriental is usually a synonym for the peoples, cultures and goods fromthe parts of East Asia traditionally occupied by East Asians and Southeast Asians, excluding

Indians, Arabs and other more westerly peoples. In some parts of America it is considered

derogatory to use this term to refer to Asians (whether East, South, West or Central Asians). For

example, in Washington state it is illegal to use the word 'oriental' in legislation and governmentdocuments [citation needed].

[edit]History of 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

Christendom and the Muslim cultures to the East and in North Africa. During the Middle AgesIslamic peoples were the "alien" enemies of the Christian world.[citation needed] European

knowledge of cultures further to the East was very sketchy. Nevertheless, there was a vague

awareness that complex civilizations existed in India and China, from which luxury goods suchas woven textiles and ceramics were imported. As European explorations and colonisations

expanded a distinction emerged between non-literate peoples, for example in Africa and the

Americas, and the literate cultures of the East.

In the 18th century Enlightenment thinkers sometimes characterized 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 therelative 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 complexconnections 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 it is sometimes claimed were associated with attempts to understand colonised cultures in

order more effectively to control them. Liberal economists such as James Mill denigrated Easterncountries on the grounds that their civilizations were static and corrupt. Karl Marx characterised

the "Asiatic mode of production" as unchanging and praised British colonialism in India.

Christian evangelists sought to denigrate Eastern religious traditions as superstitions (see

Juggernaut).[citation needed]

Despite this, the first serious European studies of Buddhism and Hinduism were undertaken by

scholars such as Eugene Burnouf and Max Mller. In this period serious study of Islam alsoemerged. By the mid-19th century Oriental Studies was an established academic discipline.


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However, while scholarly study expanded, so did racist attitudes and popular stereotypes of

"inscrutable" 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 asinferior 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".

[edit]

Orientalism in the arts[edit]

Imitations of Oriental styles

Chinesischer Turm in the Englischer Garten of Munich. Initial structure built 1789-1790Similarambivalence is evident in art and literature. From the Renaissance to the 18th century Western

designers attempted to imitate the technical sophistication of Chinese ceramics with only partial

success. Chinoiserie is the catch-all term for the fashion for Chinese themes in decoration inWestern Europe, beginning in the late 17th century and peaking in waves, especially Rococo

Chinoiserie, ca 1740-1770. Early hints of Chinoiserie appear, in the 17th century, in the nations

with active East India companies: England (the British East India Company), Denmark (the

Danish East India Company), Holland (the Dutch East India Company) and France (the FrenchEast India Company). Tin-glazed pottery made at Delft and other Dutch towns adopted genuine

blue-and-white Ming decoration from the early 17th century, and early ceramic wares at Meien

and other centers of true porcelain imitated Chinese shapes for dishes, vases and teawares (seeChinese export porcelain). But in the true Chinoiserie dcor fairyland, mandarins lived in

fanciful mountainous landscapes with cobweb bridges, carried flower parasols, lolled in flimsy

bamboo pavilions haunted by dragons and phoenixes, while monkeys swung from scrolling

borders.

Pleasure pavilions in "Chinese taste" appeared in the formal parterres of late Baroque and

Rococo German palaces, and in tile panels at Aranjuez near Madrid. Thomas Chippendale'smahogany tea tables and china cabinets, especially, were embellished with fretwork glazing and

railings, ca 1753 - 70, but sober homages to early Xing scholars' furnishings were also

naturalized, as the tang evolved into a mid- Georgian side table and squared slat-back armchairssuited English gentlemen as well as Chinese scholars. Not every adaptation of Chinese design

principles falls within mainstream "chinoiserie." Chinoiserie media included imitations of

lacquer and painted tin (tle) ware that imitated japanning, early painted wallpapers in sheets,

and ceramic figurines and table ornaments. Small pagodas appeared on chimneypieces and full-sized ones in gardens. Kew has a magnificent garden pagoda designed by Sir William Chambers.

After 1860, Japonaiserie, sparked by the arrival of Japanese woodblock prints, became an

important influence in the western arts in particular on many modern French artists such asMonet. The paintings of James McNeill Whistler and his "Peacock Room" are some of the finest

works of the genre; other examples include the Gamble House and other buildings by California

architects Greene and Greene.


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[edit]

Depictions of the Orient in art and literature

"Le Bain turc," (Turkish Bath) by J.A.D. Ingres, 1862Depictions of Islamic "Moors" and "Turks"

(imprecisely named Muslim groups of North Africa and West Asia) can be found in Medieval,

Renaissance, and Baroque art. But it was not until the 19th century that "Orientalism" in the artsbecame an established theme. In these works the myth of the Orient as exotic and corrupt is mostfully articulated. Such works typically concentrated on Near-Eastern Islamic cultures. Artists

such as Eugne Delacroix and Jean-Lon Grme painted many depictions of Islamic culture,

often including lounging odalisques, and stressing lassitude and visual spectacle. When JeanAuguste Dominique Ingres, director of the French Acadmie de peinture painted a highly-

colored vision of a turkish bath (illustration, right), he made his eroticized Orient publicly

acceptable by his diffuse generalizing of the female forms, who might all have been of the same

model. If his painting had simply been retitled "In a Paris Brothel," it would have been far lessacceptable. Sensuality was seen as acceptable in the exotic Orient. This orientalizing imagery

persisted in art into the early 20th century, as evidenced in Matisse's orientalist nudes. In these

works the "Orient" often functions as a mirror to Western culture itself, or as a way of expressingits hidden or illicit aspects. In Gustave Flaubert's novel Salammb ancient Carthage in North

Africa is used as a foil to ancient Rome. Its culture is portrayed as morally corrupting and

suffused with dangerously alluring eroticism. This novel proved hugely influential on later

portrayals of ancient Semitic cultures.

Orientalism refers to a particular academic tradition in the West, preoccupied with

conceptualising and representing the Oriental, albeit non-Western societies/cultures as the

opposite - or the other of the Occident (Said 1979]). The emergence of orientalism has a

particular historical context, that is, the global ascendancy of the West, with the development ofcapitalism.

What is wrong with Orientalism? First, it misrepresents the social-cultural reality of both theEast and the West in an attempt to present the latter as rational, forward looking, humane, and

civilised, the characteristics typically absent in the latter, resulting in two types of society: one,

with history and the other, without history. It tends to turn history into a "moral" project (Wolf1982), with the good side emerging victorious in humanitys quest of progress. By presenting the

progress of the West as a natural consequence of the intrinsic virtues of Western culture, it

distorts the historical reality of Western modernity that is far from idyllic. It ignores the real

history of the progress of the West in which the histories of the East and the West are intricatelyintertwined.

Historically, the development of capitalism was premised on colonialism. Colonialism was a

coercive process. In the realisation of this project of Western domination, Orientalism serves animportant ideological function. It not only justifies Wests exploitation of the rest, rather, it turns

it into a historic mission of Wests noble attempt to help the 'other', the backward, the

uncivilised, savage Orient to "assimilate" with the West.

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