Orientalism: How It Still Lives on Today
Orientalism is an idea that the east is a negative inversion of the west, leading to people to have a negative bias against the east and those from the area. It also leads to inaccurate and even hateful depictions of eastern countries. Orientalism has been written about and called out by several authors, such as Edward Said, throughout its coinage, however it is still being perpetrated by people today. This is through several ways, through art forms and speeches, to direct mistreatment of those from the east. The specific ways in which it is should be recognized to prevent it in the future.
“Humanism is the only - I would go so far as saying the final- resistance we have against the inhuman practices and injustices that disfigure human history.”
— Edward Said
Historical
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“The negative inversion of the Occident(West)”. It is the idea that Eastern countries are inferior to Western countries.
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Coined by Edward Said in his book, Orientalism. Edward Said was a Middle Eastern man that was apart of British culture, particularly he had a British education. He noticed a trend of writing and thinking when it came to discussing the Middle East and sought to write about it.
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The Idea of Eastern countries being inferior to the West is multifaceted and has been an excuse for colonialism for centuries, even before the word “Orientalism” was coined.