Blackwell Reference Online

Extract

A term for the European invention or idea of the Orient, associated with the thought of Edward S aid . The Orient is not simply an originating place of European languages and C ulture ; it is also, in Said's view, an indispensable European image of the O ther , which has made it possible for Europe to define itself. Furthermore, as a construct of European ideological D iscourse , orientalism has made it possible for the West to dominate, colonize, and restructure the Orient. Although Said (1978 , p. 3) has often acknowledged the importance of F oucault's theories of discourse and epistemological power, orientalism also carries traces of D errida's theory of “European hallucination” (1967, p. 80). As Western scholars began to translate Asian languages, Derrida argues, they began to construct an ideal image or Chinese fantasy of a perfectly complete linguistic and cultural presence that was not afflicted by European incompleteness and absence. However, such an idealized, hallucinated Other was simply created to fulfill a European need. Orientalism and the European hallucination are in this sense complementary forms of E thnocentrism . 1967a ( 1976 ): Of Grammatology . 1978 ( 1979 ): Orientalism . ... log in or subscribe to read full text