|
Orientalism is a term that is used by art historians, literary and cultural studies scholars for the imitation or depiction of aspects in Middle Eastern, South Asian, African and East Asian cultures (Eastern cultures). These depictions are usually done by writers, designers and artists from the West. In particular, Orientalist painting, depicting more specifically "the Middle East",〔Tromans, 6〕 was one of the many specialisms of 19th-century Academic art, and the literature of Western countries took a similar interest in Oriental themes. Since the publication of Edward Said's ''Orientalism'' in 1978, however, much academic discourse has used the term "Orientalism" in reference to a patronizing Western attitude towards Middle Eastern, Asian and North African societies. In Said's analysis, the West essentializes these societies as static and undeveloped—thereby fabricating a view of Oriental culture that can be studied, depicted, and reproduced. Implicit in this fabrication, writes Said, is the idea that Western society is developed, rational, flexible, and superior.〔Mahmood Mamdani, ''Good Muslim, Bad Muslim: America, the Cold War, and the Roots of Terrorism'', New York: Pantheon, 2004; ISBN 0-375-42285-4; p. 32.〕 ==Background== "Orientalism" refers to the Orient or East,〔from the Latin ''oriens''; ''Oxford English Dictionary''〕 in contrast to the Occident or West, and often, as seen by the West, often as "a form of radical realism".〔Said, Edward. "Orientialism," New York: Vintage Books, 1979: 364〕 Orient came into English from Middle French ''orient'' (the root word is ''oriēns'', L). ''Oriēns'' has related meanings: the eastern part of the world, the part of the sky in which the sun rises, the east, the rising sun, daybreak, and dawn. Together with the geographical concepts of different ages, its reference of the "eastern part" has changed. For example, when Chaucer wrote "That they conquered many regnes grete / In the orient, with many a fair citee" in ''Monk's Tale'' (1375), the "orient" refers to countries lying immediately to the east of the Mediterranean or Southern Europe; while in Aneurin Bevan's ''In Place of Fear'' (1952) this geographical term had already expanded to East Asia—"the awakening of the Orient under the impact of Western ideas". Edward Said, author of "Orientialism" notes that Orientialism "enables the political, economic, cultural and social domination of the West not just during colonial times, but also in the present".〔Said, Edward. "Orientialism," New York: Vintage Books, 1979: 357〕 "Orientalism" is widely used in art to refer to the works of the many Western 19th-century artists, who specialized in "Oriental" subjects, often drawing on their travels to Western Asia. Artists as well as scholars were already described as "Orientalists" in the 19th century, especially in France, where the term, with a rather dismissive sense, was largely popularized by the critic Jules-Antoine Castagnary.〔Tromans, 20〕 Such disdain did not prevent the ''Société des Peintres Orientalistes'' ("Society of Orientalist Painters") being founded in 1893, with Jean-Léon Gérôme as honorary president;〔Harding, 74〕 the word was less often used as a term for artists in 19th century England.〔Tromans, 19〕 Orientialism is argued to be used to make the East seem "less fearsome to the West".〔Said, Edward. "Orientialism," New York: Vintage Books, 1979: 363〕 Since the 18th century, Orientalist has been the traditional term for a scholar of Oriental studies; however the use in English of Orientalism to describe the academic subject of "Oriental studies" is rare; the ''Oxford English Dictionary'' cites only one such usage, by Lord Byron in 1812. The academic discipline of Oriental studies is now more often called Asian studies. In 1978, the Palestinian-American scholar Edward Said published his influential and controversial book, ''Orientalism'', which "would forever redefine" the word;〔Tromans, 24〕 he used the term to describe what he argued was a pervasive Western tradition, both academic and artistic, of prejudiced outsider interpretations of the East, shaped by the attitudes of European imperialism in the 18th and 19th centuries. Said was critical of this scholarly tradition and of some modern scholars, particularly Bernard Lewis. Said's ''Orientalism'' elaborates Antonio Gramsci's concept of hegemony and Michel Foucault's theorisation of discourse and relationship between knowledge and power. Said was mainly concerned with literature in the widest sense, especially French literature, and did not cover visual art and Orientalist painting. Others, notably Linda Nochlin, have tried to extend his analysis to art, "with uneven results".〔Tromans, 6, 11 (quoted), 23–25〕 Said's work became one of the foundational texts of Postcolonialism or ''Postcolonial studies''. Furthermore, Edward Said notes that Orientialism as an "idea of representation is a theoretical one: The Orient is a stage on which the whole East is confined".〔 According to Edward Said's conference on April 16, 2003 it is evident that he believes that the developing world which includes primarily the west is the cause of colonialism. Stephen Howe, the author of ''Empire: A Very Short Introduction'', evidently agrees that Western nations and Empires were created by underdeveloped countries and in doing so causing the extraction of wealth and labour from one nation to another. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Orientalism」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|