Critical Commentary on Orientalism Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Critical Commentary on Orientalism - Essay Example According to Ghazoul (2004) orientalism can also be said to be descriptive of the dissemination of matters concerning geopolitical awareness into scholarly, aesthetic, sociological, economic, and historical texts. Edward Said introduced different meanings into the words ‘occident’ and ‘orient’. From his discourse, it would seem that the term ‘Orient’ basically evolved into being a negative construal of Eastern cultures by the Western culture. Edward Said was deeply interested in the scholarly study of African, Middle Eastern, and Asian cultures and history. He emphasised that his understanding of the concept of orientalism was not merely representative of modern intellectual as well as social and political cultures in Middle Eastern nations (Orrells 2012). Orientalism, to a large extent, deals in studies into the Eastern cultures between the 19th and 20th centuries. As an area of study, it remains controversial because it has to ties to the archaic beliefs that characterised colonialist or imperialist regimes. According to academic scholars like Mellor (2004) the whole concept of the ‘Orient’ is tied with how the West defines itself. In defining aspects of the concept of orientalism, Said tried to point out that one of the major factors that defined this issue was the reality of the divergence of power between colonisers and the colonised tribes more in the past. According to Irwin (2006) there are many Weste rn ideological preconceptions that are hidden within the concepts of orientalism.