Orientalism detailed
I just got done with Edward Said’s flagship work, Orientalism, and came out enlightened at the very least. His work has helped me look at things from a different perspective and reaffirmed a lot of my previous beliefs as well. Like I mentioned in my earlier posts, that the word “Orientalism” as described by Said does not mean “pertaining or belonging to the Orient” rather, the word encompasses a wide variety of topics which lead to how the Orient is presented to the Oriental and non-Oriental by the non-Oriental. This entails a lot of myth and depiction by the non-Oriental of the unexplored Orient as a way to stamp their authority and power and thus justify their “manifest destiny” over their “subjects”. Examples of British and French colonialism serve as his pasture from where Dr. Said supports for his thesis. He also describes in detail the structures he is talking about that promote Orientalism and the history of them although not in the traditional sense but more in an evolutionary sense. Towards the end there were a few passages that held my interest and I would like to share those with you.
His main point is quite succinctly summed up in a quote he uses from Hugo of St. Victor, “The man who finds his homeland sweet is still a tender beginner; he to whom every soil is as his native one is already strong; but he is perfect to whom the entire world is as a foreign land.” In short the more one is able to see things from the other’s point of view the more is he liberated from his own prejudices and such that maybe tempered by past experiences and knowledge. He goes onto describe that, “The more easily, too, does one assess oneself and alien cultures with the same combination of intimacy and distance,” if Hugo’s quote is applied honestly.
Dr. Said is trying to clear our misrepresentations of certain alien cultures by trying to remove the smoke cloud around us that fogs our vision and clarity. “…the real issue is whether indeed there can be a true representation of anything, or whether and all representations, because they are representations, are embedded first in the language and then in the culture, institutions, and political ambience of the representer. If the latter alternative is the correct one (as I believe it is), then we must be prepared to accept the fact that a representation is eo ipso other things besides the “truth,” which is itself a representation.” It is quite clear what he is trying to say and in short; our prejudices regarding other cultures is based on our premonitions and hearsay at best without any concrete evidence maligning the other culture, over time this cacophony gathers some truth as it is perpetuated slowly but cancerously thereby clouding the vision of those to whom such knowledge is laid before i.e. you. As these lies and presumptions gather force over time they become the truth rather than being stated as an opinion at best or lie at worst.
Such lies and “truths” become urban legends and myths so to speak and “… a myth does not analyze or solve problems. It represents them as already analyzed and solved; that is, it presents them as already assembled images, in the way a scarecrow is assembled from bric-a-brac and then made to stand for a man. Since the image uses all material to its own end, and since by definition the myth displaces life….”
We should not look at cultures thinking that they have a pure pedigree but it is a well known and accepted reality that cultures today are a mixture and amalgamation of other cultures. Interaction with foreign entities during wars, conquests, trade etc. have left and indelible print on other cultures and then to talk about “western” and “eastern” culture seems to be really futile because each has components of the other; much like a yin-yang symbol. Said rhetorically addresses this concern, “How can one today speak of “Western civilization” except as in large measure an ideological fiction, implying a sort of detached superiority for a handful of values and ideas, none of which has much meaning outside the history of conquest, immigration, travel, and the mingling of peoples that gave the Western nations their present mixed identities? This is especially true of the United States, which today can only be described as an enormous palimpsest of different races and cultures sharing a problematic history of conquests, exterminations, and of course major cultural and political achievements.”
Orientalism is dedicated to helping us get out of this habit of generalizing unique things such as human personalities and traits through the molded lens of our eyes. Although Dr. Said uses the age old argument of East vs. West as his thesis, his principles and aphorisms can be applied quite freely in helping us interpret (or rather not misrepresent) other cultures and peoples. It is a book for the critical-thinker (I favour this term to mean those individuals who are alive and think freely without the fear of consequences for their beliefs) which is why I enjoyed it thoroughly. Highly recommended not only by me but many others who have had their eyes opened and like I said it can be applied quite easily in all walks of our life to help us understand and come to terms with foreign cultures and beings and not look at them through grimy spectacles anymore.
His main point is quite succinctly summed up in a quote he uses from Hugo of St. Victor, “The man who finds his homeland sweet is still a tender beginner; he to whom every soil is as his native one is already strong; but he is perfect to whom the entire world is as a foreign land.” In short the more one is able to see things from the other’s point of view the more is he liberated from his own prejudices and such that maybe tempered by past experiences and knowledge. He goes onto describe that, “The more easily, too, does one assess oneself and alien cultures with the same combination of intimacy and distance,” if Hugo’s quote is applied honestly.
Dr. Said is trying to clear our misrepresentations of certain alien cultures by trying to remove the smoke cloud around us that fogs our vision and clarity. “…the real issue is whether indeed there can be a true representation of anything, or whether and all representations, because they are representations, are embedded first in the language and then in the culture, institutions, and political ambience of the representer. If the latter alternative is the correct one (as I believe it is), then we must be prepared to accept the fact that a representation is eo ipso other things besides the “truth,” which is itself a representation.” It is quite clear what he is trying to say and in short; our prejudices regarding other cultures is based on our premonitions and hearsay at best without any concrete evidence maligning the other culture, over time this cacophony gathers some truth as it is perpetuated slowly but cancerously thereby clouding the vision of those to whom such knowledge is laid before i.e. you. As these lies and presumptions gather force over time they become the truth rather than being stated as an opinion at best or lie at worst.
Such lies and “truths” become urban legends and myths so to speak and “… a myth does not analyze or solve problems. It represents them as already analyzed and solved; that is, it presents them as already assembled images, in the way a scarecrow is assembled from bric-a-brac and then made to stand for a man. Since the image uses all material to its own end, and since by definition the myth displaces life….”
We should not look at cultures thinking that they have a pure pedigree but it is a well known and accepted reality that cultures today are a mixture and amalgamation of other cultures. Interaction with foreign entities during wars, conquests, trade etc. have left and indelible print on other cultures and then to talk about “western” and “eastern” culture seems to be really futile because each has components of the other; much like a yin-yang symbol. Said rhetorically addresses this concern, “How can one today speak of “Western civilization” except as in large measure an ideological fiction, implying a sort of detached superiority for a handful of values and ideas, none of which has much meaning outside the history of conquest, immigration, travel, and the mingling of peoples that gave the Western nations their present mixed identities? This is especially true of the United States, which today can only be described as an enormous palimpsest of different races and cultures sharing a problematic history of conquests, exterminations, and of course major cultural and political achievements.”
Orientalism is dedicated to helping us get out of this habit of generalizing unique things such as human personalities and traits through the molded lens of our eyes. Although Dr. Said uses the age old argument of East vs. West as his thesis, his principles and aphorisms can be applied quite freely in helping us interpret (or rather not misrepresent) other cultures and peoples. It is a book for the critical-thinker (I favour this term to mean those individuals who are alive and think freely without the fear of consequences for their beliefs) which is why I enjoyed it thoroughly. Highly recommended not only by me but many others who have had their eyes opened and like I said it can be applied quite easily in all walks of our life to help us understand and come to terms with foreign cultures and beings and not look at them through grimy spectacles anymore.
posted by rehanmalick | 8:34 AM
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