The book is set in a gulf country that is never actually named, but is suspected to be Jordan around the time of the 1930s. In the novel, the edouin residents of a little oasis and community called Wadi al-Uyoun have their lives forever changed when Americans come to their tiny area and discover that there is oil there (Munif, 1989). Instead of having just one person in this community relate what has happened because of this, there is a large and diverse cast of edouin individuals that are used in the story, so that it can be seen through the eyes of many and given various perspectives.
There are many different manifestations that are created from the upheaval that is seen when the Americans arrive, and the author of the novel believed that it was important to see the issues from many sets of eyes and from many different….

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….

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 in science and technology. However to this day, many people would connect India with its Oriental image and those who visit the land usually do so because of the mythical picture they have constructed in their minds. India is no such place and it never was. But presenting it as an exotic and mythical land west had no desire to accentuate the beauty or charm of the land but instead it simply wanted to develop an unmistakable contrast between East….

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….

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 cultural equality necessary to build a safe and productive global community and environment of co-existence through mutual respect, understanding, and equality.

ONE

Literature Review

It is only in conjunction with other works which specifically address the subject of Orientalism that one begins to identify markers of Orientalism in Captain Sir Richard Burton's interpretation of the Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night (Burton, ). Works by authors like Edward W. Said, who spent much of his life studying and analyzing Orientalism; are….

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 the West, economically and politically, can be connected not just to the imagery of Orientalism but to all the new machinery for rendering up and laying out the meaning of the world." ( Mitchell 289) The representation of reality is treated as an exhibit so that the difference between reality and illusion becomes opaque. What Mitchell implies is this analysis is that the exhibit-as-reality is a central facet of the Western objectification of reality. He adds that;

What reduced the world….

eligion and Politics
Uses and Abuses of the Concept of Orientalism

There have been many uses and abuses in regard to the cultural and social concept called Orientalism. "Unlike the Americans, the French and British -- less so the Germans, ussians, Spanish, Portuguese, Italians, and Swiss -- have had a long tradition of what I shall be calling Orientalism, a way of coming to terms with the Orient that is based on the Orient's special place in European Western Experience. The Orient is not only adjacent to Europe; it is also the place of Europe's greatest and richest and oldest colonies, the source of its civilizations and languages, its cultural contestant, and one of its deepest and most recurring images of the other. In addition, the Orient has helped to define Europe (or the West) as its contrasting image, idea, personality, and experience. Yet none of this Orient is merely imaginative. The….

China and the far east represent such areas and naturally they are a threat to Turkey. One ways of fighting against this threat is by encouraging the local creativity to develop and by promoting it abroad.
Another important issue that can be discussed is repr4esented by the impact of fashion upon the Turkish society. One might argue that the Turkish society is so different from the western one that it is impossible for fashion to actually have a profound social influence. This is not true. On the one hand the attack of the media is extremely intense and there is no way to prevent girls and women to come in contact with them. On the other hand, keeping them away from the media is not a solution, even if the purpose would be that of defending culture. The right way to proceed about it is to allow women to decide….

The already shaky relationship between the Qatar state and Iranian society was further undermined by the Western exploitation of Iranian resources during the second half of the nineteenth century.
From 1918 until 1921 "British subsidies kept the government afloat, and British military and administrative advisers attempted to reorganize Iran's army and to manipulate the various political factions within the country to British advantage" (Cleveland, 185)*. When Britain added insult to injury by offering Iran a loan in exchange for exclusive advisory privileges, anti-imperial demonstrations broke out in several cities. Widespread discontent grew further. The Qatar government was regarded as ineffective and pro-British. A determined military commander finally took action and put a stop to the chaos.

Reza Khan used the political climate to advance from the position of commander and chief of the army in 1921 to that of the shah of Iran in 1925. His election overthrew the Qatar dynasty.….

A further stereotype about Asians that cannot be ignored is that regarding the sexuality of the Asian female. "Asian Pacific women have generally been perceived by Hollywood with a mixture of fascination, fear, and contempt....If we are 'good' we are childlike, submissive, silent, and eager for sex or else we are tragic victim types. And if we are not silent, suffering doormats, we are demonized dragon ladies -- cunning, deceitful, sexual provocateurs." (Hagedorn) the pornography industry is highly populated with Asian women fulfilling the male desire for sexual stereotypes. Japanese school girls in short skirts with lollipops and repressed sexual needs are a popular fetish. The subservient Geisha wife in kimonos, pale make-up, and most importantly donning a subservient, unthreatening, submissive sexual attitude is another. Look again and one is certain to find the "dragon lady" as mentioned above: the over-sexed, wild, uninhibited Asian girl looking to please as many….

Butterfly
David Henry Hwang's Pulitzer-prize-winning drama M. Butterfly is almost single-minded in its examination of the role played by preconceptions in the establishment of cultural expectations and stereotypes. Based on a true story, the drama to some extent lays out in clear precise terms the ways in which estern prejudices toward China can lead to results that would seem wildly implausible in a brief factual summary, but are nonetheless the foreordained results of taking such estern prejudices to their logical conclusion. It is crucial to note, however, that Hwang's ideas are couched largely in terms of gender: this is a play in which the difference between men and women is engaged intellectually for the reader or viewer as a way of complicating or underscoring certain preconceptions about the difference between East and est. It is worth conducting a deeper examination of the ways whereby Hwang constructs his story and to investigate….

Gender Politics and the Nation
The historical development of the nation has impacted the ability of women to participate in contemporary politics by reinforcing gender roles in the public sphere. Traditionally, the exclusion women from the international community was linked to ideas of gender roles and today, these ideas continue to exclude women from international politics.

Traditionally, colonialism was driven by the Enlightenment ideal of using reason to obtain goals, a view that also saw females as irrational and emotional. Enloe notes, "Perhaps international politics has been impervious to feminist ideas precisely because for so many centuries in so many cultures it has been thought of as a typically 'masculine' sphere of life" (4).

Enloe argues that the status of diplomatic wives is tied closely to ideas of women as loyal supporters of their men, who were busy at the business of international relations. This view clearly shows the pervasiveness of ideas of….

Noam Chomsky underlines the above point in a discussion entitled the New War on Terror. Chomsky alerts us to the fact that are many more forms of terror than bombing or direct violence that are often extremely devastating and morally indefensible. This in fact constitutes a form of terrorism in the moral sense of the terms. He notes for example that,

..there are 7 to 8 million people in Afghanistan on the verge of starvation. That was true actually before September 11th. They were surviving on international aid. On September 16th, the Times reported, I'm quoting it, that the United States demanded from Pakistan the elimination of truck convoys that provide much of the food and other supplies to Afghanistan's civilian population.

(Chomsky)

Chomsky refers to this as a form of "silent genocide." The existence of state-sponsored economic and other forms of terror is referred to by a number of modern political theorists.….

Of course, the much shorter pleated skirt we now associate with modern Japanese school girls is also a chic look, and the carrying over of this simple design into a popular and often fetish-linked fashion for Western girls of modern times is an important note of timelessness.
Court" Fashion for Japanese Males, Asuka Period (593-710):

Eastern influence is not reserved for Westerners alone, as one can see in Asuka and Nara period clothing designs from Japan. Chinese influence was strong during this time period for clothing styles in Japan between 593 to 794 AD. uddhism and Chinese culture design was popularized by the imperial court members that wore clothing of this kind. The hakama trousers remained intact, but without the binding ties below the knee that earlier periods had emphasized. The upper garment of this period, the "ho" ("Japanese Dress in Former Times...") was less form fitting than previous designs, sporting….

Representation of Asian Women: American Television Sitcoms and Media
Introduction

American Asian women exist within a culture that is at times resistant at providing a realistic portrait of what an Oriental woman is and how she expresses herself. This can be seen in personalities like Margaret Cho, whose sitcom, All-American Girl forced her to see the reality of how America perceived Asian American women and Oriental people in general. These negative images, stereotypes of Asian American women as 'demon women', 'hookers', and submissive, are translated not just in television sitcoms, but in movies like Ghost in the Shell and force cultivation of beliefs that stick to the minds of people long-term. It is through these shows and movies that people understand what is an Asian American and unfortunately, how badly they are depicted. This essay will shed some light on the potential origins of these negative stereotypes and why they continue to….