Essays on Orientalism

This paper will look at love, sex and gender within the backdrop of postmodernism, existentialism and orientalism in the novels The Women of Algiers in Their Apartment by Assia Djebar, Foam of the Daze by Boris Vian and The Lover by Marguerite Duras. In the novels love/ and sex are shown as something that a woman has no control over, something that destroys due to its intensity, and something that forever changes a person, respectively. While gender is seen as being something that disenfranchises women in a male dominant, unequal society and something that can destroy a man if ...

CHAPTER THREE: MAN AND ARAB MASCULINITY

As Carabí and Armengol (2014) show in their study, Arab masculinity is a hybrid concept entailing adherence to traditional patriarchal values held for centuries in the Arabic world and supported by the religious component of Islam; however, it also “allows liberal values” which might contradict this traditional patterns. Cultural and societal representation of Arab masculinity is thereby rather complex and might emerge in a variety of contexts including family and society on the larger scale. In these representations, stereotypical images of man in traditional Arab context might enclose controversies and correlations between liberal-secular masculinity and conservative masculinity image entrenched ...

3rd June2016

Definition of Orientalism and How it is Problematic Orientalism is a way of comparing the differences of European, American and Arab cultures through exaggerating, emphasizing and distorting. According to Said, Orientalism considers Arab and African ways of life as uncivilized, precarious and out of the ordinary. Said describes Orientalism as problematic as it is ironical to be perfectly implicit. Understanding how the so-called “cultural domination” has operated over the years has proved to be problematic.

Globalization

Globalization is used to describe broadly the course of escalating intellectual, social, economic and political relations while at the same time integrating people’s ...

A work like Pearl S Buck’s The Good Earth is by its very nature orientalist in the Saidian sense Because it was created within the structures of Orientalism as both a genre and as an epistemological category. Buck was born the child of an American missionary in China and spent much of her formative years there. Buck’s early life and experiences as an American and the child of a missionary informed her preconceptions of China, its people, society, and culture. Orientalism in this sense isn’t just a literary genre: an orientalist work is not just, a ...

Communication

Arabs and Arab- Americans for a long time now have faced stereotyping in Western films as a result of the negative way in which their cultures socialization and beliefs are depicted. This uncouth prejudice of Arabs has been as a result of being affiliated to terrorist and criminal acts. Stereotyping involves having false thoughts and ideas about certain people concerning their way of life, values and virtues. This misrepresentation of Arabs and Arab- Americans in films has led to a lot of negativity in the society surrounding these groups of people. As a result of the characteristics of Arabs ...

American nationalism is the kind that is concerned with asserting America on the international scene as a nation as well as promoting its culture and unity of purpose. This would imply the direct actions of the American government aimed at advancing the position and role of America on the international scene. It also entails the actions of multinationals whose mother country is America, movements, and non-profit organizations advancing their ideals, and the elements of American culture that inform their charters and terms of services on the international scene. Orientalism is an outlook that emphasizes, projects, imagines, misrepresents and exaggerates ...

Fashion, Culture And Global Consumerism In Fashion

Fashion and culture are the two phenomena, which are closely associated with each other. It is very important for the fashion industry to know the cultural trend of the respective community in which the business is trying to establish and flourish. The cultural aspects both tangible and intangible, influence significantly in shaping the fashion industry. The tangible aspects are available fabrics, accessories, traditional motifs etc. The intangible aspects of fashion are the cultural beliefs, values, taboos, festivals etc.

Globalization and Its impact on Fashion Industry

With the emergence of globalization, the overall approach of the businesses has rapidly changed. The globalization has had its impact on ...

Question 1: International relations mainstream theories

The contribution of post modernism to the field of international relations has been far-reaching. The major element of this approach is the criticism to Marxism. It takes various strands of thinking and among them is the constructivist which is based on the philosophy of constructivism being applied in social settings. The theory talks about what it means to say that something is socially constructed. It illustrates social beliefs and facts that seem to have some sense of reality in them. But in reality, these social beliefs would function for individuals as I they ...

Chapter 1 of The Society of the Spectacle (1967) by Guy-Ernest Debord describes reality as an “immense accumulation of spectacles” where “everything that has been “directly lived” has become a “representation” (para). The concepts of separation and isolation were defined in relation to the process of production in an economic system The writer emphasizes that in the present society, the products generated through the work of individuals are very much separated from the workers and have in fact accumulated its own power. It is such power that has a great impact on the various aspects of a people’s existence.

The ...

The colonial stereotype that can neither be proved nor eradicated is dependent upon ambivalence. The objective of the Colonizer is to portray the Colonized as a degenerate population because of their race so that they can justify their dominance. To do this they define the subject race as knowable but different with both positive and negative characteristics and engages a sense of otherness.

Edmund Said proposed a ‘Orientalist’ power that incorporated European observation of the Orient lumping together all races, cultures and politics in that geographical zone of the world. This incorporated a dichotomy that engages Eastern mystic spirituality ...

Orientalism is criticized by Prashad in the popular New Age Spiritualism where the religious aspects are clearly reflected on how they influence the lives of the Asian community in the U.S. The way in which the new aspects of religion relates with medical and healing practices are elaborated. The Indian religious perspectives on the lives of the individual conflicts with the life conditions in the U.S making the Indian community members in the U.S to face challenges in the daily activities (Vijay 16). The economic forces in relation to Orientalism are discussed by the author criticizing the aspects of ...

The Closing the Gap policy is a 2008 arrangement by the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) that aims to develop the living conditions of indigenous people within Australia. It is a policy aiming to reform standards of housing, health, and education among indigenous communities (Australian Government, 2012). As the name itself implies, it aims to “close the gap between indigenous and non-indigenous Australians in life expectancy, educational achievement and employment opportunities” (Altman, 2009, p. 2). It bears the main objective of removing the problem of indigenous disadvantage by imposing efficient systems of service delivery to indigenous people with adequate funding. ...

Step 1: Description.

On my desk, there is a glass vase full of paper cranes. They tumble out of the open top of the vase, poking tails and heads into the air, the vibrant reds and blues of the origami paper catching the light from the desk lamp. The vase is incidental, a square-ish, open-topped glass candleholder from some long-forgotten candle; the cranes were made in an anxious fervor, one after another, until they reached the top of the vase and required a new vessel. There are other jars around the room full of cranes, but this is the first and the biggest. The ...

Samuel P. Huntington (1993) propounded theory, ‘clash of civilizations’ suggests that religious identity of people will play the main role in a conflicting world that takes place in the era of post cold world war. This theory is one of the most discussed and disputed theories in the modern world. Edward (2006) said introduced the theory of ‘Orientalism’ that focuses extensively on the cultures other than the western world. This paper intends to discuss both the theories and further tries to find out political motivations of these theories. There are various aspects of Huntington’s theory. He believes that ...

Research paper

Educational institution

Introduction

Globalization has made a significant contribution both socially and economically. Although, the focus was mainly on the socio-economic impacts of globalization, it is important to consider globalization from the cultural point of view. Since the 80’s in 20th century, Hollywood has been putting a lot of efforts in promoting strategies toward globalization, through which Hollywood movies have virtually reached each and every corner of the planet in an unprecedented speed and scale. Globalization in Hollywood films portray the inevitable result of globalization of world economy, where the “Chinese elements”, in particular, have become an epitome in the trend ...

The display of the insects in lieu of the display of foreign artifacts

Prior to his travel, in Asia Morse requests popular readers to collect and classify insects. One has to learn where and how to collect the insects. Conversely, one has to learn how to preserve the insects (Brody 31). Morse elaborates the construction and the use of insect boxes to display the insects as artifacts in the homestead. Morse gives the details to aid in the appearance of the boxes. Morse suggests the use of entomological display kit to pin the insects in the circle cork. A proper display compares with the view of foreign artifacts where one can view ...

The critiques of the Victoria repression, orientalism and commodity racism done by Foucault has played a major role in supporting the gender equality within particular settings in a society. This is by creating arguments on how the current discourse justifies equality in sexes, and rights for every gender to participate in the society development of upright morals so that acts like prostitution could be abolished. This analysis as well promoted openness in expression more so in matters pertaining to sex since all the society members are well knowledgeable about it. This open talk in matters pertaining to sex was against Victorians ...

Introduction:

Muslim women and their stereotype have always been the topics of discussion, particularly in Western Media. The Western media has created a dark and negative image about entire Muslim community and Muslim women. They are treated either with sympathy or suspicion. In United States and other Western countries, a certain image has been created about Muslim women. This image is certainly not positive. The Muslim women are underestimated and people do not believe in their ability to change the world. I want to put before the readers some facts about Muslim women through which I want to refute such misconceptions. That ...

Introduction

Comparative analysis is a vital tool in presenting an effective and efficient manner of presentation between any two or more impetuses of an event. It is even more imperative in the sense that subsequent acute analyses can be facilitated and done based on it (Demand media 2014 p.1). Ideally, the presentation of a comparative analysis attempts to bring forth a clear and rather more pronounced distinction that is inherent between two or even more stimuli. Accordingly; a more precise conclusion is more often than not deduced as a culmination of this exercise. Thus; it is in light of the above that this essay ...

The movie “Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter and Spring” starts with showing a small Buddhist temple on the river. In the temple, there were both old and young Buddhist monks. Leafy trees and clear spring weather evoke peaceful background of this movie. To gather medical herbs and to get into land, two monks have to take a small boat. A young monk teases small animals like frogs, snakes, and fish by suspending stones to them with his innocent smile; at the same time, the old monk observes young monk without any comments. That night an old monk suspends rock to young monk ...

Introduction

Based on Edward W. Said’s book ‘Orientalism’, the paper summarizes Said’s concept of Orientalism and answers the following questions: What is Orientalism, as defined by Said? What impact does it have in our world, on large and small scales? How does the concept of Orientalism constitute a system of power, rather than incidences of misuse of power? What hegemony mean and how does it relate to the concept of Orientalism? What is the East, and what is the West, and given the fluid borders between the two can we really say there are a concrete East and a concrete West?

Summary

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Human beings are complex, not only because of their intellectual ability, but because of their sentient nature. They use their senses and mind to develop concepts and associate them with the experiences and activities they engage in. A good example the application of this principle manifests in Said’s work on Orientalism. Basically, the concept of Orientalism delineates the interaction between the Europeans and the Asian culture in the early history (Said, 1979). Apparently, the Asian culture was new to European people so they decided to understand and define it as best as they could. The context within which ...

The military video game is a very popular type of interactive entertainment, a specific genre of the medium of relatively recent realm of video games primarily centered around plots and characters dealing with the armed forces of a nation, usually the United States military (Breuer, Festl and Quandt 1). Given the relatively new and developing nature of the military video game genre and its popularity, its sociological effects and inspirations (especially as it pertains to race relations and foreign policy) are still unknown. While games like Medal of Honor, Call of Duty, Rainbow Six and more have begun to bring in tremendous ...

The military video game is a very popular type of interactive entertainment, a specific genre of the medium of relatively recent realm of video games primarily centered around plots and characters dealing with the armed forces of a nation, usually the United States military (Breuer, Festl and Quandt 1). Given the relatively new and developing nature of the military video game genre and its popularity, its sociological effects and inspirations (especially as it pertains to race relations and foreign policy) are still unknown. While games like Medal of Honor, Call of Duty, Rainbow Six and more have begun to bring in tremendous ...

Introduction

A. Given the relatively new and developing nature of the military video game genre and its popularity, its sociological effects and inspirations (especially as it pertains to race relations and foreign policy) are still unknown. B. Research question: Do the treatment of enemies, characters and game mechanics in military-style video games (such as Call of Duty) reflect issues of Orientalism, racism and colonialism present in modern-day America; if so, in what ways? Thesis: Military video games do enforce a hegemonic and Orientalist view of the Other, trading in even-handed foreign policy for brazen shoot-em-ups that act as soft ...

Annotated Bibliography – Lesson 7

Green, C. Shawn, and Daphne Bavelier. "The cognitive neuroscience of video games." Digital media: Transformations in human communication (2006): 211-223. C. Shawn Green and Daphne Bavelier are experienced scholars in the field of video game neuroscience, having previously written papers on the cognitive effects of video games on visual selective attention. In this article, the authors explore the theory that video game playing provides practical gains in enhanced perceptual capabilities, including hand-eye coordination, faster reaction times, benefits in peripheral vision and more. Evaluating the literature on hand for this type of neuroscience, the authors determine that ...

Orientalism encompasses an academic discourse featuring a patronizing attitude by Westerners towards Asian and African societies. The West perceives Asian and African societies as undeveloped and static and in this way, creates a fallacious oriental culture by which Asians and Africans can be studied, shown and reproduced. On the other hand, in this fabrication by the Westerners, the West is taken to be developed, flexible, dynamic and superior. An etiological analysis of this term will suffice. Orientalism finds its origins in the word “Orient” which translates to the East, as seen by the West. Further, the term Orient has its origins ...

International Media Policy

Abstract Aspects such as globalization, continuous technological breakthrough, the state of conflict, the visible separation between the West and the East, or Occidentalism and orientalism, which intensify the discussion about otherness and emphasize the racial hate speeches define the nowadays media context. Currently mass media negotiates its role in this environment, defined by the above-mentioned social coordinates. Because globalization entered the social normality, mass media followed the game imposed by this social movement and applied a globalized media discourse, sustained by the available technological innovations that allow for the rapid dissemination of media content throughout the world due to ...

John Agard’s, ‘Checking out Me History’ is an intricately written poem pointing out on the observation of the English Curriculum as biased to only white people. In the poem, Agard notes that all the English literature, is written by white people for white people. He reveals that the Curriculum intentionally leaves out, distorts and hides important information about black women and men who similarly deserve to be recognized (Seeto 2009). His analysis portrays the fact that controlling what people learn about their past, controls their thoughts, self- identity, and the present (Seeto 2008). There are wide varieties ...

Edward Said Orientalism is commonly read as a book about power, cultural differences, science, global politics and anthropology. However, Orientalism most resists a late twentieth-century readers’ effort to pardon Said from the accusation of talking about imperialism, colonialism and racial prejudice. Indeed it is clear that prejudice is a central element in the book. Said imbues her text with components that require a differentiation between fiction and transient pleasures that arise from common Anglo Saxon cultures, particularly those delights associated with the kind of self-centered and ignorant attitudes towards the ‘Other’ (a term referring to alien people or people of other races) as exemplified ...

Orientalism by Edward Said

Edward Said is an expert in the field of post-colonial studies. He annotates and denotes the word Orientalism as the false cultural exaggerations and assumptions of the western countries. These assumptions, according to Edward Said, facilitate the misinterpretation of what is referred to as the Orient in general and the Islamic nations (Middle East) in particular. The importunate and subtle Eurocentric chauvinism against the Muslims and the Arabs together with their culture is a very contemptuous attitude especially from the western world. The over ambitious Europe and the United States, according to Edward Said, has indiscriminately subjected Arabs and other ...

1-Nevertheless, Said made his biggest mark on the literary stage with the publication of Orientalism. He later became a world-famous author. From his perspective, the book offers a critical look at the idea of Oriental Studies in the academe. The most renowned European universities enlightened students in this field for several centuries. It is a field that is sophisticated and encompassing; it offers an eclectic mix of different disciplines such as ethnography, linguistics philology, linguistics and cultural interpretation of Oriental literature through their finding, mending, collection and translation (Moosavinia 2003). 2- Bernard Lewis is an extremely literate adept on matters involving ...

The film, The Joy Luck Club, based on Amy Tan’s novel, portrays the story of four women and their daughters who eventually migrate from China to America. The story goes on to delve deep into how they are dissociated from their origins. These women live in a culture and time that is vastly different from the one in which they were themselves brought up. The four older ladies meet once a week to play mahjong and they name their group as the ‘Joy Luck Club’. During the meeting they talk about stories of their respective families and grandchildren. They ...