Representation and culture in contemporary contexts

Representation and Culture

Orientalism

Orientalism by Edward Said is a very influential work and has been the centre of various debates and controversies, particularly with regard to the poststructuralist and post-colonialist philosophical stance. While there are many detractors and critics of this work, the general consensus is that the, through his work, the author has "…single-handedly affected a revolution in Middle Eastern studies in the U.S." (Orientalism is alive and well ? In Iraq)

The work has however created a great deal of debate and controversy. One of the aspects that have been a cause of debate is the scope of orientalism. In this regard, Said points to the way that the rich and varied texture of cultures, countries and the wealth of diversity of these regions are unfairly condensed and distorted into the stereotypes of Western commentators and scholars. As one commentator notes, "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)

Said goes on in this work to explore the way that Orientalism is constructed and structured by the Western perspective. In this regard he discusses the way that the discourses about Orientalism have changed and been augmented by different cultures and political leaders.

He discusses the variations in Orientalist discourse, and the way that earlier views and perspectives formed the basis for further assumptions about the Orient from the point-of-view of Occident. Said indentifies four elements in earlier discourse that form the foundation of modern Orientalism; these are expansion, historical confrontation, sympathy, classification. ( Said)

The author makes the important point that the way that Orientalism is structured from an intellectual ad academic perspective is dependent on the way that it has been perceived in the past. In other words, new discourses about this subject are merely variations and continuations of prior mindsets and views that create the modern trajectory in thought. Said also refers to 'experts' who spend a very limited amount of time in countries in the Middle-East but return to write extensive and authoritative overviews and analyses of these cultures. The discourse on Orientalism tends to perpetrate various myths that have been part of this discourse since the Eighteenth Century. In this regard Said remarks in his book that,

My whole point about this system is not that it is a misrepresentation of some Oriental essence & #8230;but that it operates as representations usually do, for a purpose, according to a tendency, in a specific historical, intellectual, and even economic setting"

Therefore, from this perspective, Occidental views are determined by prior and self-perpetuating views that are related to a specifically Western bias in the understanding of other cultures and peoples.

In discussing the present state of discourse on Orientalism, Said took these foundational aspects into consideration and analyzes Western depictions of so-called Arab cultures; where they are perceived from an Occidental point-of-view as irrational, menacing and largely anti-Western. 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 because the Orient was weaker than the West, which elided the Orient' difference with its weakness. . . . As a cultural apparatus Orientalism is all aggression, activity, judgment, will to truth, and knowledge."

In essence this book interrogates the foundational assumptions and perceptions that constitute the ideological construction of Orientalism. As one critic notes, Said argues"...for the use of "narrative" rather than "vision" in interpreting the geographical landscape known as the Orient…" (Orientalism) He stresses that the scholar should not attempt some overarching and generalized 'vision' of the Orient but that there should be a focus on the intricate complexity and dynamic 'narrative' of a culture that is not pre-determined by ideology or Western assumptions about that culture.

There have been numerous positive responses to the work and from many quarters it is seen as an essential deconstruction of Western meta-narratives. As Ansell-Pearson, Parry, and Squires (1997) note,