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

Zsoka answered 8 years ago
Found this for you. Hope it helps cheers,

For the book by Edward Said, see Orientalism (book).
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West/East distinction
Eastern world The Orient Orientalism

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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 attitudes
of 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 his
controversial 1978 book Orientalism, which was critical of this scholarly tradition and of modern
scholars including Princeton University professor Bernard Lewis.

Contents [hide]
1 Meaning of the term
2 History of Orientalism
3 Orientalism in the arts
3.1 Imitations of Oriental styles
3.2 Depictions of the Orient in art and literature
3.3 Examples of Orientalism in the arts
3.3.1 Literature
3.3.2 Opera, ballets, musicals
3.3.3 Shorter musical pieces
3.3.4 Theater
3.3.5 Painting
3.3.6 Movies
4 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 links
10 Further reading



[edit]
Meaning of the term
Like the term Orient itself Orientalism derives from a Latin word Oriens referring simply to the
rising 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 the
sun rises.

In terms of The Old World, Europe was considered to be 'The West' or Occidental, and the
furthest 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 flourishing
cultures 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 Western
explorers 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
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 is
currently understood to be the Orient.

In contemporary English, Oriental is usually a synonym for the peoples, cultures and goods from
the 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 government
documents [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 Ages
Islamic 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 such
as 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 the
relative 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 complex
connections 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 Eastern
countries 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 also
emerged. By the mid-19th century Oriental Studies was an established academic discipline.
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 as
inferior 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 1789-1790Similar
ambivalence 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 in
Western 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 French
East 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 (see
Chinese 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's
mahogany 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 armchairs
suited 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 as
Monet. 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.

[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 arts
became an established theme. In these works the myth of the Orient as exotic and corrupt is most
fully 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 Jean
Auguste 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 less
acceptable. 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 expressing
its 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 of
capitalism.

What is wrong with Orientalism? First, it misrepresents the social-cultural reality of both the
East 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 (Wolf
1982), 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 intricately
intertwined.

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 an
important 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.