Edward Said's Theory of Orientalism

In discussing Edward Said's Orientalism and the creation of a different and competitive "other," Windschuttle (p. 31) relates, "The construction of identity in every age and every society involves established opposites and �others.' This happens because the development and maintenance of every culture require the existence of another different and competing alter ego." With respect to American dominant cultural identity, white have primarily established a construction of identity that narrowly defines race and remains superior to the construction of a different, i.e., "other." With respect to the "other" in American society, the American identity is primarily identified as a "Western" identity in comparison to the alter ego of the "Eastern" identity. This analysis will discuss how Said's theory of "Orientalism" continues to permeate contemporary American culture.

Said's theory of Orientalism theorizes that dominant mainstream cultures typically act in an imperialistic and ethnocentric manner in defining their own identity and that of the "other's." In Orientalism, Said discusses the era of Vietnam and the Kissinger-style of diplomacy orchestrated by the Nixon administration. In this work, Said outlines the basic nature of these two identities and underscores the superiority of one reflected by the inferiority of the "other." As Said (p.47-48) writes, "Both the traditional Orientalist and Kissinger conceive of the difference between

Related Essays

WORLD BANK & INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATION THEORY .... in 1996 (Irwin 153; Stevenson C 1). The Economist said that the .... Keohane, Robert O. & Joseph S. Nye. .... Chicago: Dorsey P, nd Mason, Edward S. & Robert E. Asher. .... (2205 9 )

The Only Child .... firstborns Noam Chomsky (linguistics) and Edward Said (sociology), vis-a .... older brothers, the biophysical theory being that .... Bogaert, AF, Bezeau, S., Kuban, M., & .... (3099 12 )

S Corporations and Partnerships .... and allowed two classes of stock.34 Schaaf said that, if .... John K. Federal Income Taxation of S Corporations .... 443 (1985.) Roche, Edward J., Jr., Robert R. Keatinge .... (3638 15 )

Consciousness .... At Cornell University, Edward Bradford Titchener, an American psychologist, developed the .... The witnesses said they could tell that Binti=s actions her well .... (1593 6 )

Thomas Aquinas' Summa Theologica .... fire makes things hot (as Aquinas said), dead men don .... of goodness and being, and director(s) of the .... Gratsch, Edward J. Aquinas' Summa: An Introduction and Inter .... (2449 10 )

GENDER DISCRIMINATION IN EMPLOYMENT .... despite evidence that his supervisor had said that if it .... S. Elizabeth Foster, The Glass Ceiling in the .... Edward J. McCafferey, Slouching Towards Equality: Gender .... (5356 21 )

er changes in U.S. law enforcement to include racial profiling of Muslims. Such incorporation of the perception of Arabs and Muslims as the dangerous and evil "other" follow within Said's theories on Orientalism. We also see how Orientalism is pernicious in the sense that it often underlies social institutions whose values and laws often treat the "other" unjustly. As Said (p. 191) maintains in Culture and Imperialism, from observing this relationship between the East and West we learn not only of the inequality between cultures but also the very foundation of American cultural practices in general; "[Studying]�the West and its dominated cultural �others' is not just a way of understanding an unequal relationship between unequal interlocutors, but also a point of entry into studying the formation and meaning of Western cultural practices themselves." The portrayal of the "other" is also seen in many feature films that depict conflicts against the Eastern "enemy." In Apocalypse Now, the Vietnamese "other" is depicted as living in the most hellish place in the world. Not content to depict Vietnam as the worst place in the world, the Vietnamese are also depicted as having a culture that is barbaric in comparison to Western civil

Category: Foreign - E