Orientalism

In art history, literature, and cultural studies, Orientalism is the imitation or depiction of aspects of the Eastern world (or "Orient") by writers, designers, and artists from the Western world. Orientalist painting, particularly of West Asia and North Africa, was one of the many specialties of 19th-century academic art, and Western literature was influenced by a similar interest in Oriental themes. This reflected a number of factors: the increasing ease of access to Asia and North Africa by artists, the still-colourful clothing worn in Asia, in contrast to relatively drab Western clothing (for men at least), the curiousity of Western art buyers about Asian life, especially in its traditional forms, and increasing economic connections between West and East, with trade and colonialism. Since the publication of Edward Said's Orientalism in 1978, much academic discourse has begun to use the term 'Orientalism' to refer to a general patronizing Western attitude towards Asian and North African societies. In Said's analysis, 'the West' essentializes these societies as static and undeveloped. This fabricates a view of Oriental culture that can be studied, depicted, and reproduced in the service of imperial power. Implicit in this fabrication, writes Said, is the idea that Western society is developed, rational, flexible, and superior. This allows 'Western imagination' to see 'Eastern' cultures and people as both alluring and a threat to Western civilization.