Orientalism Today

THE UNIVERSIT OF HONG KONG

Third Essay for FOSS 1003: Masters of Social Thought

Topic: What is “Orientalism” and is it a bad thing?

ORIENTALISM IN TODAY’S WORLD

Many Americans asked, “why don’t they like us?” in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks. With the violence of this single day, the world became painfully conscious of the presence of Islam as a powerful source of identity for peoples in the Middle East and elsewhere. That strong and transnational religious identification, coupled with the deep anti-western thinking engendered by decades of the arrogant imposition of western world power, had never been that consciously acknowledged before and shocked the world. The September 11 attacks can be seen a dramatic expression of a clash of civilizations between Islam and the West over the last decade and made many people realizing the complex of problems which our world encounter due to this intense division of cultures.

Not just the fall of the towers in Manhattan and the daily news of the problems in Afghanistan and Iraq, also the local strong immigration of Muslims became a common concern for the peoples of western countries.

Just a week ago, in my home country Switzerland the voters supported a referendum proposal to ban the building of Minarets. Surprised and shocked was the national and international press, when it turned out that 57% of the people voted in favour of the ban . The so open-minded, very democratic and multicultural country of Switzerland was suddenly in the focus of world’s media, accused of being racist and violating the freedom of religion.

No matter for what reasons the people made their choice to vote, it is just one of many recent examples of shocking developments in the western countries against the Islamic culture which shows us how deep the gulf between the West and Orient has become.

But how can it be possible, that cultures are being so divided that even hate and racism evolve? For what reasons, do the cultures...