Effects and Consequences of Orientalism
Orientalism is a systematic way of representing the Orient (specifically the Middle Eastern and Asian countries). It is a distinct style of thinking which basically highlights the differences between the East and the West and clearly depicts the lens through which the West looks at the Orient. This limited view through the lens puts the identity of the Orientals at stake resulting in ethnocentrism and cultural misappropriation in pop culture. This has also created Islamophobia among the Westerners making the lives difficult for the oriental migrants living in the West. It also justifies the needless interference of the U.S in the Middle Eastern countries and “bolsters a sense of European superiority over the East and thus implicitly or explicitly legitimate imperialism and colonialism, the exploitation of subjugated people deemed culturally or racially inferior to the dominant culture.” (Hodkinson & Walker, 2013)(page 56)
By taking a look at pop culture today, one can easily identify the deep-rooted presence of Orientalism in today’s world. Orientalism has played a great role in reducing the actual identity of communities to a tangible essence. This is because it defines politics as the consequence of that essence while ignoring all the history, geography, biology that might have led to that politics. This has also led to ethnocentrism, the assessment of one culture by another culture that thinks is superior to the other, and cultural misappropriation, the adoption of one culture by another culture which, again thinks, is dominant over the other. This phenomenon can be vividly seen in all forms of art, namely theaters, photography, and music, today. A good example of this can be Katy Perry’s music video on her song ‘The Dark Horse’ in which an attempt by a foreign culture is made to portray the Egyptian society and its culture (Haidari, 2019). Katy Perry, in the video, goes several skin tones down to make herself seem Egyptian which marks the presence of cultural misappropriation. Furthermore, the video implicitly tells that Egyptians are assumed to be surrounded by gold and diamonds and have been reduced to mere pyramids, pharaohs, and magical powers. Objectification of women seems to be a prominent feature of the video regardless of the reality of Egypt. Hence, this video puts the identity of Egyptians at stake all the while narrowing the vision of its viewers.
Furthermore, orientalism highlights the biased thoughts and the generalization by the Westerners about the Orientals. For instance, a Hollywood movie named ‘The Dictator’ opens up showing an imaginary but rural and undeveloped desert country in North Africa, informing the viewers about the preconceived image of a rural setup that pops up in the minds of the Westerners whenever they think about the middle east. Hence, the urbanization, industrialization, and the development of the orient countries get disregarded. As the movie goes on, the lead confronts a character to explain that Wadiya is not an Arabic country but his homeland in North Africa, the character merely replies, “Well, you’re all Arabs to me.” With this, the movie highlights the assumption made by the people living in the West that all people of Middle-Eastern appearance are “Arabs” and tells us that this, too, is a consequence of the ignorance that arises from orientalism (Aura, 2016).
In addition to these false portrayals of the Orient, Aladdin, one of Disney’s famous movies, begins with a song that describes a land “Where they cut off your ear if they don’t like your face” and declares that, “It’s barbaric, but hey, it’s home!”. This clearly explains that the Westerners think of Orientals as savages and associate them with terrorism and anti-democracy. This is how the fear of the Orientals is seeded into the minds of the Westerners which then grows on them and has been seen by the world in the form of Islamophobia after the incident of 9/11. This fear has made the Muslim identity suffer the most as the Muslims were considered terrorists, jailed, and held guilty merely on the basis of suspicions. Moreover, this fear has deceived the citizens of the West into supporting the War on Terror, US’s supposed agenda to fight for freedom and peace in the Middle East, without knowing the reality of it. Looking at the recent US drone attack in Baghdad on 3rd January, 2020 that killed Qasem Soleimani, an Iranian general who is reported to have been ‘the most effective force fighting Daesh (ISIS), Al Nusrah, Al Qaeda et al’, one will question the US’s agenda and their so-called ‘good-will’(Top Iranian general killed by the US in Iraq, 2020).
It is ironic to see the country leading the War on Terror as an ally of those who clearly go against this agenda. In 1990, the US decides to go to war against Iraq saying that Saddam Hussein was a criminal who had committed genocide against his own people but later the world gets to know that he was also provided with $500 million in subsidies to buy American agricultural products. This subsidy was increased to $1 billion when Saddam had successfully completed his genocidal campaign. When Saddam invaded Kuwait without the approval of its powerful allies he was exterminated. Even Turkey, despite having the worst Human Rights record due to its oppression over the Kurds, has had close ties with the US government. Moreover, the US has also been supporting Israel to erase Palestine; it is American missiles that smash through Palestinian homes whenever Israel attacks and Israel receives several billions of dollars from the US every year. And when the Palestinians, helpless and hopeless since the past eighty-five years, attack back for their homeland they are called terrorists ignoring their historical struggle (Roy, 2007).
“Wars are never fought for altruistic reasons. They’re usually fought for hegemony, for business. And then of course there’s the business of war. Protecting its control of the world’s oil is fundamental to US foreign policy. The US government’s recent military interventions in the Balkans and Central Asia, and its continuing destruction of Iraq, have to do with oil. Hamid Karzai, the puppet president of Afghanistan installed by the US, is said to be a former employee of Unocal, the American-based oil company. The Us government’s paranoid patrolling of the Middle East is because the region has two-thirds of the world’s oil reserves. The oil keeps America’s engines purring sweetly. The oil keeps the Free Market rolling. Whoever controls the world’s oil controls the world’s market. And how do you control oil?” (Roy, 2007) (page 45)
In light of the excerpt above, it is clear that orientalism has been used to promote the War on Terror which is a perfect cover for the US to meddle into the Middle Eastern countries to have held on oil reserves to serve its own capitalist interests. So, this is how the U.S. has been justifying its presence in Iraq and middle eastern countries all the while deceiving the people by orientalism, making them think that actions are taken to keep them safe. Simultaneously, the people keep on believing that they are “a stronger race, a higher-grade race, a more worldly-wise race, to put it that way, has come in and taken place,” as Winston Churchill says, legitimizing colonialism and imperialism in this modern era.
So, in a nutshell, orientalism is not so innocent as it seems as it has had effects on the oriental world and keeps it suppressed giving the West an upper hand in all matters. Orientalism can be identified through ethnocentrism and cultural misappropriation in all forms of media which have been producing Islamophobia and making the lives of the Muslims difficult. Moreover, Orientalism has been used deliberately to justify the presence of the West in the Middle East all the while deceiving the people into an illustration of a safe, better, and developed world and making them believe that they belong to the race that is above all the others.
Works Cited:
Aura. (2016, November 19). Orientalism and The Dictator. Retrieved from An Empire at Home: https://empireandruinsweb.wordpress.com/2016/11/19/orientalism-and-the-dictator/
Haidari, M. (2019, March 13). The Reification of Orientalism in Katy Perry’s ‘Dark Horse.’. Retrieved from Medium: https://medium.com/@metrah/the-reification-of-orientalism-in-katy-perrys-dark-horse-e08ca0992ca
Hodkinson, J. R., & Walker, J. (2013). Deploying Orientalism in Culture and History: From Germany to Central and Eastern Europe. Boydell & Brewer, 2013.
Roy, A. (2007). Come September. In J. Berger, N. Klein, A. Roy, J. Sacco, & L. German, War With No End (p. 167). Verso.
Top Iranian general killed by US in Iraq. (2020, January 3). Retrieved from BBC News: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-50979463
