Orientalism

#1. What is orientalism?

a negative representation of the Orient
combines all "orients" together although it is an enormous
area that covers from Egypt to Japan and they have
completely different cultures
absolutely stereotyping
"Orientalism is a Western style for dominating, reconstructing
and having authority over the orient"
"the relationship between Occident and Orient is a relationship
of power, of domination, of varying degrees of complex
hegemony"
born in the 18th and 19th century
o Europeans used "orientalism" as an excuse and to justify
colonization
#2. first concept of colonization (Napoleon)
Napoleons invasion in Egypt was considered the beginning of
the Middle East
very first time Europeans were able to conquer a Muslim area
able to defeat Malmuks (natives) easily
significant because Napoleon brings over 160 scientists,
scholars, archaeologists, etc. to study Egypt and categorize
and classify everything that they see (mostly interested in
ancient Egyptian objects)
#3. Depictions of Orientalism
"description of Egypt" shows domination of French power and
depicts the ruins of Egypt (shows superiority) <- shows that
modern Egyptians don't respect their culture and don't want
to take care of it, giving Europeans the right to take it because
it's their duty to colonize this broken society
"The Snake Charmer" by Jean-Leon Gerome (1824-1904)
o uncivilized, savages who play with snakes, "snake
charmer" is a stereotype in India and putting in the
middle east (because they are all the same)
o sex obsession, immorality
o the wall is beautiful, but the Orientals are letting the
beautifulness decay (there are cracks in the tiles) <shows the lack of appreciation
o mosque (a place of worship): shows the ignorance of the
painter because this would never happen in a sacred
place of worship and there would never be weapons at a
mosque
o the arabic script on the walls are all gibberish and they
don't mean anything (makes it look more authentic)
o style of painting: realism (the artist is trying to portray
that this is an accurate depiction of Orientals)
women are strong central identity of paintings (realism)

o women are just seen in harems, or as sexual objects of

men
o but this is not possible because men were not allowed in
harems
o harems are extremely rare (only exists for 1%) <expensive
o polygamy is practiced very rarely but the theory exists
(only for wealthy people)
o the women don't hang around naked all day long, they
atleast wear towels
o the color of the women are white and one has white
hair (the women had to be attractive to European men
as an incentive to go save them)
#3. Summary
orientalism is a way of looking at the homogenous timeless
place inhabited by barbarians that do not know how to take
care of their heritage or their women so they should be
dominated by the europeans
definition and justification of Orientalism