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서강대학교 교수학습센터부소장 정유성

Orientalism

Nov. 2, 2015Prof. Kyu Young LEE

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(1) the study of Near and Far Eastern societies and cultures,

languages and peoples by Western scholars.

->the term ‘Orientalism’ :

1) negative connotations in some quarters and

2) interpreted to refer to the study of the East by Americans and

Europeans shaped by the attitudes of the era of European

imperialism in the 18th and 19th centuries.

(2) the imitation or depiction of aspects of Eastern cultures in the

West by writers, designers and artists.

Orientalism (1)

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* implies old-fashioned and prejudiced outsider interpretations of

Eastern cultures and peoples.

-> This viewpoint was most famously articulated

and propagated by Edward Said

in his controversial book Orientalism (1978)

-> Orientalism was critical of this scholarly

tradition and of modern scholars (including

Princeton University professor Bernard Lewis)

Orientalism (2)

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* Orientalism <- a Latin word Oriens :

-> the rising of the sun/ to imply "the East" in a relative sense.

-> the opposite of the term Occident, which has largely dropped from

common usage.

* In terms of The Old World,

Europe - 'The West' or Occidental

the furthest known Eastern extremity 'The East' or ‘The Orient'.

Meaning of the term ‘Orientalism’ (1)

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* From at least the time of the Roman Empire until at least the Middle

Ages,

‘the Middle East’' - ‘the Orient’

the flourishing cultures of the Far East were little known, just as

Europe was essentially unknown in ‘the Far East.’

* over time,

the common understanding of 'the Orient' has continually shifted East

as Western explorers traveled deeper into Asia.

-> 1) in Biblical times, the Three Wise Men 'from the Orient' were

actually Magi from "The East" (relative to Palestine) meaning 'the

Persian Empire'.

Meaning of the term ‘Orientalism’ (2)

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-> 2) after all period, as Europe gained knowledge of countries further

to the East,

the definition of the limit of 'the Orient' progressively shifted

eastwards, until the Pacific Ocean was reached, in what is also

known as 'the Far East'.

-> 3) This can cause some confusion about the historical and

geographic scope of Oriental Studies.

Meaning of the term ‘Orientalism’ (3)

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* However,

some contexts where ‘the Orient’ or ‘Oriental’ refer to older definitions.

-> for example 1) ‘Oriental Spices’:

regions extending from the Middle East through the Indian sub-

continent to Indo-China.

2) travel on the Orient Express (from Paris to Istanbul):

eastward bound (towards the sunrise), but does not reach what is

currently understood to be the Orient.

Meaning of the term ‘Orientalism’ (4)

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* in contemporary English,

Oriental :

1) usually a synonym for the peoples, cultures and goods from the

parts of East Asia traditionally occupied by East Asians and

Southeast Asians, excluding Indians, Arabs and other more

westerly peoples.

2) in some parts of America it is considered derogatory to use this

term to refer to Asians (whether East, South, West or Central

Asians).

for example, in Washington state it is illegal to use the word 'oriental'

in legislation and government documents

Meaning of the term ‘Orientalism’ (5)

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* difficult to be precise about the origin of the distinction between the

“West” and the “East”

-> however, the rise of both Christianity and Islam:

a sharp opposition between European Christendom and the Muslim

cultures to the East and in North Africa.

-> during the Middle Ages,

Islamic peoples: the "alien" enemies of the Christian world.

History of Orientalism (1)

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* European knowledge of cultures further to the East

- very sketchy.

- a vague awareness that complex civilizations existed in India and

China, from which luxury goods such as woven textiles and

ceramics were imported.

- based on European explorations and expanded colonisations, a

distinction emerged between non-literate peoples, for example in

Africa and the Americas, and the literate cultures of the East.

History of Orientalism (2)

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* in the 18th century

-> Enlightenment thinkers: aspects of Eastern cultures - superior to

the Christian West.

For example Voltaire: Zoroastrianism would support a rational Deism

superior to Christianity.

the relative religious tolerance of Islamic countries in contrast with

the Christian West

the status of scholarship in Mandarin China.

complex connections between the early history of Eastern and

Western cultures with the translation of the Avesta by

Abraham Anquetil-Dupperon and the discovery of the Indo-European

languages by William Jones

History of Orientalism (3)

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* however, these developments

- occurred in the context of rivalry between France and Britain for

control of India

- associated with attempts to understand colonised cultures in order

more effectively to control them.

For example

1) Liberal economists (James Mill) denigrated Eastern countries on the

grounds that their civilizations were static and corrupt.

2) Karl Marx : the "Asiatic mode of production" as unchanging/ praising

of British colonialism in India.

3) Christian evangelists sought to denigrate Eastern religious

traditions as superstitions (for example Juggernaut).

History of Orientalism (4)

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* the first serious European studies of Buddism and Hinduism -

undertaken by scholars such as Eugene Burnouf and Max Mueller.

-> in this period serious study of Islam also emerged.

-> by the mid-19th century, Oriental Studies as an established

academic discipline. -> but, often scholarly ideas: intertwined with

such prejudicial racial or religious assumptions.

-> Eastern art and literature: still seen as "exotic" and as inferior to

Classical Graeco-Roman ideals.

-> Their political and economic systems: generally thought to be feudal

"oriental despotisms"/

their alleged cultural inertia: considered to be resistant to progress.

History of Orientalism (5)

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Chinese tower in the English Garden, Munich, Initial structure built 1789-1790

Imitations of Oriental styles – Examples of Orientalism in the arts

(1)

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"Le Bain turc," (Turkish Bath) by J.A. D. Ingres, 1862

Imitations of Oriental styles – Examples of Orientalism in the arts

(2)

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Cover of the French magazine

le Japon artistique (May 1888) showing

one of Hokusai's views on Mount Fuji.

Imitations of Oriental styles – Examples of Orientalism in the arts

(3)

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* the word "Orientalism" carried no overt negative freight.

* "Oriental":

-> simply understood as the opposite of “occidental" ('western')

-> used to develop negative connotations following the publication of

the groundbreaking work Orientalism by the American-Palestinian

scholar Edward Said.

Edward Said and ‘Orientalism’ (1)

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* Edward Said

-> 1) emphasized the relationship between power and knowledge in

scholarly and popular thinking, in particular regarding European

views of the Islamic Arab world.

-> 2) argued that Orient and Occident worked as oppositional terms,

so that the "Orient" was constructed as a negative inversion of

Western culture.

-> 3) sought to lay bare the relations of power between the colonizer

and the colonized in those texts.

Edward Said and ‘Orientalism’ (2)

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-> 4) Said's writings have had far-reaching implications beyond area

studies in Middle East, to studies of imperialist Western attitudes

to India, China and elsewhere. It was one of the foundational texts

of postcolonial studies.

-> 5) later developed and modified his ideas in his book Culture and

Imperialism (1993)

Edward Said and ‘Orientalism’ (3)