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

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