Thursday, August 4, 2011

Orientalism

Chapter four spoke about orientalism, and how it tries to show how the European culture gained strength and identity. It was mentioned that it will set itself against the Orient as a sort of alternate self. It also mentioned that German Orientalism and Anglo-French were similar in the fact that they both obtained intellectual authority over the the Orient within the Western culture. Authority is a strong word, which goes hand in hand with it’s persuasiveness, it’s status, value and judgement. Authority is powerful, therefore should be analyzed in the best way possible because it is a strong word. I also agree that authority is a big deal because it gives you power over something or in some cases someone. I also believe that authority comes with responsibility because some people abuse their authority to their own benefit and affect others without it.  This reading talked about the importance of analyzing authority, and proved how authority applies to Orientalism. The study and analysis in the reading describe both the historical authority in and the personal authorities of Orientalism. 
For instance, the main methodological devices used for studying authority was the strategic location. It was explained that strategic location describes the authors dispute about the oriental things he talks about. The author also explains strategic formation which helps analyze the relationship between a single and a group of texts are relevant to the culture at large. He also stated that the principal product of exteriority is representation. How something is presented is extremely important because it shows professionality. It was explained that style, setting, history, and social issues are the major things looked at when it come to authority. When someone has authority, you automatically show them respect and look up to them. Some are inspired by someone's authority and aim for some themselves. The analysis in the reading claims that the orientalist have emphasis on the evidence, which is not as they stated “invisible.” I found this article very interesting because I learn how important authority was in the eighteenth century and how relevant it was to Orientalism. It is interesting to analyze how even having authority in this century and in the past are some what similar. Authority is still as important to the people and analyzed well. It was also refreshing to see the power of authority in the eighteenth century and how it could also have been taken advantage of. Authority still till this day consist of the main factors which are persuasiveness, presentation, and value. To me presentation is the most important because you should present yourself well in order for people to respect your authority and learn that how you look is one of the reasons why you are in that place. The relevance between orientalism and politics is an important and sensitive truth. It brings out the idea of innocence, or guilt in black or women studies. When i took a black studies class, orientalism and politics almost always came hand in hand. They were both important roles and one was relevant to the other. 

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