Name __________________________________________ Date ___________ Class _______ Period _____ Orientalism Orientalism is a term that is used by art historians, literary and cultural studies scholars for the imitation or depiction of aspects in Middle Eastern, South Asian, African and East Asian cultures (Eastern cultures). These depictions are usually done by writers, designers and artists from the West. In particular, Orientalist painting, depicting more specifically "the Middle East", was one of the many specialisms of 19thcentury Academic art, and the literature of Western countries took a similar interest in Oriental themes. Since the publication of Edward Said's Orientalism in 1978, however, much academic discourse has used the term "Orientalism" in reference to a patronizing Western attitude towards Middle Eastern, Asian and North African societies. In Said's analysis, the West essentializes these societies as static and undeveloped—thereby fabricating a view of Oriental culture that can be studied, depicted, and reproduced. Implicit in this fabrication, writes Said, is the idea that Western society is developed, rational, flexible, and superior. 1. What did the term Orientalism traditionally mean, and how has it’s meaning changed since the publication of Said’s book? 2. What does Said mean by “essentializing” societies? “The Orient is watched, since its almost (but never quite) offensive behavior issues out of a reservoir of infinite peculiarity; the European, whose sensibility tours the Orient, is a watcher, never involved, always detached, always ready for new examples of what the Description de l'Egypte called "bizarre jouissance." The Orient becomes a living tableau of queerness.” ― Edward W. Said, Orientalism “Arabs, for example, are thought of as camelriding, terroristic, hooknosed, venal lechers whose undeserved wealth is an affront to real civilization. Always there lurks the assumption that although the Western consumer belongs to a numerical minority, he is entitled either to own or to expend (or both) the majority of the world resources. Why? Because he, unlike the Oriental, is a true human being. No