It was a late night last night so I was only able to get through Orientalism and most of that there “The Arabian Nights.” But seeing as how some other intellectual minds have covered “Nights” I’ll just move on to Orientalism.
Overall I thought that Said did a wonderful anthropological analysis of what the “Orient” is with regard to how man perceives it. The west is a geographical area, the Orient is a man-made concept. I didn’t realize before this work that as Americans we have a completely different concept of what the Orient entitles. But for both Europe and the United States the Orient is a way for people to dominate a seemingly harmless and exotic culture without feeling like jerks. It made me think of our reasoning for having slavery back in the day here in the US of A. We decided that Africans LIKED the hard labor. So therefore we were being helpful.
I also liked that Said pointed out that there is a difference between the academic and imaginative meanings of Orientalism. Academically we understand their culture through texts and history. But imaginatively they are different and less than us, despite the evidence that refutes this perception.
One thing that needs a bit of clarification for me is the idea of the 4 elements that Said points out: Expansion, historical confrontation, sympathy, and classification. I understand that these concepts go with the idea of Orientalism but I had issues distinguishing them. He also brings up the idea of a new discourse versus an old discourse. Aren’t they more or less the same or is there some underlying difference that I am just not getting? I understand that the old discourse had to do with the Crusades and the racism involved with that. Isn’t there still a sense of racism but this time with relation to the greed for oil? And don’t both discourses involve the colonial mentality?
I really like the questions Said raised. They made me think, which is a dangerous thing. How does one represent other cultures? I realized that there is never really an objective way. people are influenced by their own culture and there is no real way to be completely open-minded. I think that the notion of the “other culture” is dangerous depending on the level of education and “open-mindedness” people have. It is a very touchy subject and can easily turn sour.
I didn’t see where the whole industrial revolution speech a few days back was going but hey, guess I got told.