Orientalism Flashcards
How does Said relate Orientalism with the empire?
He sees Orientalism as reaching its high-point during the period of empire when many writers, artists etc. travelled to the East. Orientalism was used as a justification for empire.
What is Orientalism?
It is a manner of regularised perceptions of the Orient dominated by ideological biases. It “others” the Orient and attaches sweeping generalisations of uncivilisation and effeminity to it. It exists for and due to the West.
How does Said’s Orientalism relate to Foucault’s discourse analysis?
Foucault argues that language is used to convey knowledge and that knowledge is power. Said hence argues that how the Orient has been talked about, has contributed to false perceptions and understandings of it. Through repetition, negative portrayals have gained truth value.
What did Arthur Balfour, foreign secretary under Lord Salisbury, say about the Egyptians which manifested orientalism?
“Egyptians were unfit to govern themselves” (despite their Ancient history of great civilisation)
What did Cromer, Governor General of Egypt say about the oriental?
“Accuracy is abhorrent to the Oriental”
He believed that someone of the Orient was inherently irrational, incompetent and gullible.
What was the name of Herbert Spencer’s work on social-Darwinism? What did it argue to do with empire?
Social Statics (1850) It argued that imperialism had served civilisation by clearing the inferior races off the earth. Those of the Orient were supposedly inferior and not adapted to modern society
What book did Charles Darwin write in 1871? How does it display orientalism?
“The descent of man”
Darwin employs orientalist tropes to associate the “little monkey” with “a savage”. It contains several conventional references to “savages” and “barbarians”
When was Rudyard Kipling’s book ‘Kim’ written? How does it show orientalism?
1900
It stresses the power and wisdom of the West over the East through knowledge and rationality.
What book did Charles Dickens write in 1857 in response to the Indian Mutiny? How does it demonstrate orientalism?
“The Perils of Certain English Prisoners”
Dickens clubs together non-European races as inferior to the Europeans.
When was the Moonstone written? What does Collins associate the Orient with?
1868
Associates the Orient with wealth and danger
Which operatta by Gilbert and Sulliven employs orientalist settings and harnesses orientalist stereotypes of uncivility? When was it first performed?
The Mikado - 1885
Which supervilain was introduced in a series of novels by Sax Rohmer between 1913-1959? How does it show orientalism?
Dr Fu Manchu
It associates the Oriental with trickery, mystery and backwardness (Fu Manchu uses thugs and animals instead of guns and explosives)
Who wrote a Passage to India in 1924? How does Said argue this book corroborates Orientalism?
E.M. Forster
He claims that Forster attributes Hinduism with chaos and uses the failed friendship between a British and Indian to illustrate the disconnectedness between the East and West.
