Page 108 - Introducing Cultural Studies
P. 108
How did - and how does - Orientalism affect Western perceptions of
Islam and the Middle East? Said points out that while the French and
British were expanding their colonies, ideas about the colonized were
also being formed. In a host of scholarly and literary works, the
colonized were described as inferior, irrational, depraved, childlike.
Said points out that:
Ideas about the Orient were formed in a context of domination and
submission. Orientals could be understood, defined, controlled and
manipulated by the dominant party.
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