Orientalism
#Identify any 5 concepts related Orientalism from the
interview of Edward Said.
Here is my response,
* “Orientalism asks, how do we come to understand people, strangers, who look different to us by virtue of the color of their skin?” Orientalism questions the reasons behind the impression of any community or nation as a bad and why the whole community and nation have to suffer because of the mistakes of one or two groups from that community. As Orientalism questions our mentality that how we think about those who have different identities, mostly west considers middle-east as ‘Other’ but treat them as enemies is not good. Orientalism finds the roots of this prejudice and mindset of one community for other community.
* The East as a kind of mysterious place full of secrets and monsters - “the marvels of the East,”
In Western countries, the representation of East by media was in such a way that all western people were thinking about Eastern people as bad magicians and mysterious people. They were not aware of the culture of East and that is why they have considered it as mysterious place, the word ‘mysterious’ itself creates the feeling of horror. So as a result the human side of Islamic and especially Arab world are rarely found in any Western country’s movies and in people’s mindset.
* “Orientalism creates an image outside of History, of something that is placid and still and eternal.”
What the whole world thinks about east and all Orientals may not be the truth, it is not in the history, but it is created mentality by Europe to the world. Power operates the mind of world. As there is politics behind this, Arabs almost always play the role of terrorists, violent and irrational people in most of the movies, they considers Muslim as two things : Villains and fanatics.
Here is my response,
* “Orientalism asks, how do we come to understand people, strangers, who look different to us by virtue of the color of their skin?” Orientalism questions the reasons behind the impression of any community or nation as a bad and why the whole community and nation have to suffer because of the mistakes of one or two groups from that community. As Orientalism questions our mentality that how we think about those who have different identities, mostly west considers middle-east as ‘Other’ but treat them as enemies is not good. Orientalism finds the roots of this prejudice and mindset of one community for other community.
* The East as a kind of mysterious place full of secrets and monsters - “the marvels of the East,”
In Western countries, the representation of East by media was in such a way that all western people were thinking about Eastern people as bad magicians and mysterious people. They were not aware of the culture of East and that is why they have considered it as mysterious place, the word ‘mysterious’ itself creates the feeling of horror. So as a result the human side of Islamic and especially Arab world are rarely found in any Western country’s movies and in people’s mindset.
* “Orientalism creates an image outside of History, of something that is placid and still and eternal.”
What the whole world thinks about east and all Orientals may not be the truth, it is not in the history, but it is created mentality by Europe to the world. Power operates the mind of world. As there is politics behind this, Arabs almost always play the role of terrorists, violent and irrational people in most of the movies, they considers Muslim as two things : Villains and fanatics.
* “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.
I'm a victim and you're somebody who's oppressed people or so on, but rather,
to understand my history in terms of other people's history, in other words to
try to understand, to move beyond, to generalize one's own individual
experience to the experience of others. And I think the great goal is in fact
to become someone else.”
As Edward Said said, it is not only to understand one's self but to understand one's self in relation to others and to understand others as if you would understand yourself.
* “we have been thrown out and so we have another vision, which is a vision of co-existence, in which Jew and Arab, Muslim, Christian and Jew can live together in some polity, which I think it requires a kind of creativity, and invention that is possible – vision that would replace the authoritarian, hierarchical model”
Said considers themselves the victims of victims, they have to pay the prise of past deeds which they have not done, but they have to suffer this revenge part.
Thank you.
As Edward Said said, it is not only to understand one's self but to understand one's self in relation to others and to understand others as if you would understand yourself.
* “we have been thrown out and so we have another vision, which is a vision of co-existence, in which Jew and Arab, Muslim, Christian and Jew can live together in some polity, which I think it requires a kind of creativity, and invention that is possible – vision that would replace the authoritarian, hierarchical model”
Said considers themselves the victims of victims, they have to pay the prise of past deeds which they have not done, but they have to suffer this revenge part.
Thank you.
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