Orientalism
The work of Edward Said and Thomas Mitchell provides a unified insight into the way that the Occidental mind has succeeded in 'othering' and marginalizing the reality of the Orient. Orientalism, as suggested by Said is a form of representation that interprets and re-presents the other in a way that distorts and liminalizes the meaning of the Orient, creating a false mystique rather than reality.
In his work Orientalism Said points to the way that the rich and varied texture of cultures, countries and the wealth of diversity of these regions are radically condensed and distorted into the stereotypes of Western commentators and scholars. This refers to the view that from an Orientalist or Western perspective the Orient is often simplified and reduced to series of myths and stereotypes that serve to distort the cultura richness and reality of the East. "The depiction of this single 'Orient' which can be studied as a cohesive whole is one of the most powerful accomplishments of Orientalist scholars. " (Orientalism) This leads Said to understand the structure of orientalism to mean the creation of biased and skewed prototypical image of the oriental; which is of a & #8230;biological inferior that is culturally backward, peculiar, and unchanging… depicted in dominating and sexual terms." (Orientalism)
This deconstructive perception is extended and enhanced in the work of Thomas Mitchell. In his article entitled "Orientalism and the Exhibitionary Order" Mitchell summarizes the intention of Said's Orientalism. He concludes that;
Orientalism, it follows, is not just a nineteenth-century instance of some general historical problem of how one culture portrays another, nor just an aspect of colonial domination, but part of a method of order and truth essential to the peculiar nature of the modern world."
(Mitchell 313/314)
In other words, the views of Said are taken a step further by Mitchell to suggest that the very process of Western representation creates a nexus of illusion which distorts and re-interprets the Orient in relation to and in service of Western occidental prerogatives and assumptions. These distortions of the "truth" or reality are, as Said and Mitchell suggest, indicators of the manner in which Western modes of binary representation divorce us from reality and force us into a continual recurrence of illusion. From this perspective the Western form of representation tends, in Mitchell's terms, to reduce all to an exhibition or an objectification that is characteristic of dualism and logocentric thought. This is further examined and related to social, political and cultural perceptions that engender bias and distortion.
These views of Orientalism and the deconstruction of Western perceptions, as well as the dissection of the process of othering and marginalization, point to the very nature of representation. The following proposal is based on these fundamental insights and the mechanisms by which the Occident has created or constructed the other. These theoretical insights are applied to a modern city space, namely modern London. This space or Occidental environment is examined and analyzed in order to discern the traces that bear witness to the re-presentation of the Orient in modern and postmodern consciousness.
2. Central thesis statement
Taking into account the central trajectory of Orientalism and the substratum of the various interlinked theoretical aspects discussed above, the following proposal is suggested. The central thesis that will be explored is that the creation of a post 9/11 London is to a great extent coterminous with and the result of various biases and stereotypes relating to Orientalism and the marginalization and misinterpretation of the East. This is examined especially with regard to security aspects and the consciousness of incipient threat from the other. It will be suggested that the creation of the security and terror awareness in modern London can be deconstructed and analyzed in terms of the prior and present affects...
However, he goes further in his analysis of the world as exhibit. He suggests that the way in which the West represents realty as an objectified "picture' in essence distorts and separates us from reality. This is in essence is the stance taken by Martin Heidegger in his critique of Western Metaphysics and dualistic thought. In his analysis of world-as-exhibit Mitchell states that. "The consolidation of the global hegemony of
This was done by various means and especially by constructing a poor mythical picture of the Orient and then forcing all Oriental societies to fit that image. The same treatment was meted out to Japanese societies and other societies of the East. India was the land of snake-charmers and spices for as long as we can remember until India burst out with a brand-new identity by becoming a leader
Orientalism, then, allowed the West to promote its political propaganda of colonizing Eastern societies. This propaganda of colonizing Eastern societies was legitimized by the West's insistence that the East needed to progress in the same way that it did (West) right after the economic success of the Industrial Revolution. Colonization was the West's method of "rehabilitating" societies it considered as a 'laggard' -- a society that, in the West's view
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These perceptions form the basis of various ideological stances that are translated into policy and action. In the modern context therefore there is a dangerous continuation of the myth that has grown up around the stereotypical discourse of Orientalism. The link between the construction of Orientalism and contemporary politics is clearly referred to in the book: My contention is that Orientalism is fundamentally a political doctrine willed over the Orient
This will reveal the bias of the West and how it has come to embrace the stereotypical imagery and ideas of the Oriental. In conclusion, the essay will briefly recount the points made throughout the essay overall, but will also offer analytical ideas as to how, understanding Orientalism as a product of the colonial and post colonial West, how the East and the West might move forward and achieve the
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