Dont Trust The Process
“Every empire, however, tells itself and the world that it is unlike all other empires, that its mission is not to plunder and control but to educate and liberate.”-Edward Said. This powerful quote has but a rather deeper meaning within the words in which construct it. Growing up, we as humans are taught to act a certain way, to go about our actions a certain way, and to react a certain way. Usually what we are taught is the distinct difference between right and wrong. Some teachings may come from adult figures in our lives, others from life experiences. Sometimes throughout the course of life, we are taught something which we may be unsure of. A fact or way of life is presented and we are just given the information blindly and told to carry on. This process of embedding information can in most ways be harmless, yet in other ways cannot be. Having a certain view or opinion on someone or something purely because you have been told what to think is a pattern of discourse that has unjustly been set upon our country to affect certain kinds of people. In a very significant way, this information embedding process has affected the way our country has portrayed people of the Orient. Today, Orientalism can be defined as, “the representation of Asia, especially the Middle East, in a stereotyped way that is regarded as embodying a colonialist attitude.” Edward Said, a former professor of literature at Columbia University as well as the founder of the academic field of postcolonial studies, is also the other of a very informative book known as “Orientalism”, a book that studies the representation of people of the Orient in everyday life.
Throughout his book, Said is able to, in his own words, describe the word Orientalism in three meanings based off of what he as learned about people of the Orient. Said describes his first meaning of Orientalism as ‘academic’, stating that it is the main label that is accepted towards the overall definition of Orientalism and that this label is still taught in Universities today in regards to Orientalism. “The interchange between the academic and the more or less imaginative meanings of Orientalism is a constant one, and since the late eighteenth century, there has been considerable, quite disciplined quite perhaps even regulated traffic between the two.”(Said 2) Said comments on the most common meaning of the word Orientalism discussing the most common representation of people from the Orient. Said uses his academic meaning of Orientalism to smoothly transition into his second meaning of Orientalism, which he described as more ‘general’, claiming that the general meaning pertains more to the thought of the “ontological and epistemological distinction made between the Orient and the Occident.” Basically meaning that the definition of the Orient is that it is the opposite of the Occident and vice versa. “I have begun with the assumption that the Orient is not an inert fact of nature. It is not merely there, just as the Occident itself is not just there either.”(Said 4) Said has further begun to elaborate more on how his general meaning of Orientalism can be pretty much that, just general, almost simple if you will. After speaking on his second meaning, Said makes the transition to talk about and describe his third and final mean of the word Orientalism. Said describes his third meaning as ‘historic’ and more ‘materially defined’ than the two prior meanings. “The orient is an integral part or European material civilization and culture. Orientalism expresses that part culturally and even ideologically as a mode of discourse with supporting institutions, vocabulary, scholarship, imagery, doctrines even colonial bureaucracies and colonial styles”.(Said 3) In what may be his most profound meaning yet, Said comments on the notion that cannot simply understand Orientalism and the discourse in which people of the Orient face, that one cannot solely learn the true meaning of Orientalism and that it can only be learned through experience.
Samuel P. Huntington, former American Political Scientist and renowned author of the book “The Clash of Civilization and the Remaking of World Order” touches base on the war between states as well as the creation of discourse brought on by empires throughout history. Both Huntington and Said are beyond intelligent scholars, both share similar as well as contrasting views on the Orient and Oriental discourse. Huntington touches base more on the creation of discourse though Western Empires and civilizations. One could state the Huntington’s argument is one of Orientalist discourse, yet I look at it as more of a way of why discourse as been put onto the people of the Orient. “Violence between states and groups from different civilizations, however, carries with it the potential for escalation, as other states and groups from these civilizations rally to the support of broader conflict”. (Huntington 1) Huntington also discusses the power of Western Civilizations in regards to the discourse of the Orient, “The West is, and will remain for years to come the most powerful civilization. Yet it’s power is relative to that of other civilizations declining” meaning that the West was only as strong as other civilizations were weak. Although his views on Orientalism tend to differ from those of Edward Said, both provide meaningful insight to the overall meaning of Orientalism.
In today’s modern society, the act of “othering” discourse is sadly not a forgotten thought. Too often mediums such as social media, the news and television/movies portray too many people a certain way. Thus creating a system and theory of discourse that a certain type of person can only grow up to do certain things. My community partner features many students who are of Latino descent. Yet should one watch a recent movie or frequent social media enough, they will see that more often than not, the culture and image of the Latino/Latina individual is portrayed in a limited manner. A middle school student should not have to feel that she/he is destined to be a house nanny or maintenance man just because Hollywood or social media portrays their people as such. The negative discourse towards what people can do in their lives should not be affecting children at all, sadly though it does. My community partner does an outstanding job of pushing their students to reach their full potential and break the stereotypes that Hollywood and social media have thrust upon them. The time is now for everyone to break away from the path they think is made for them and rather create on of their own. Don’t trust the process, be the process.
