What is geography in study?
Geography extends beyond the standardized boundaries that categorize the physical world. Well-perceived physical boundaries, for instance, include national boundaries that are often enforced by soldiers and defined outlines. Yet once we take a deeper look at these well-defined outlines, we see that there exists an imaginary dimension within them. In the United States, for instance, there are ethnic and cultural boundaries and divisions between individuals.
Such divisions stem from a mindset in which individuals differentiate themselves from others on the basis of skin tone, religion, etc. While individuals recognize differences among members of their own social groups, they often make misleading assumptions about other social groups, viewing them as homogenous, amorphous wholes that lack individuality. In Orientalism, Said describes imaginative geographies both as ways in which different cultures are perceived and as a “universal practice of designating in one’s mind a familiar space which is “ours” and an unfamiliar space beyond “ours” which is “theirs”’ (Said 54).
From the perspective of the West, the depiction of the Orient creates a division between Occident—the West—and Orient, which refers to everything that is not Western, including but not limited to all of Asia, parts of Africa, and the Middle East. Throughout Orientalism, Said reinforces that the Western perception of the Orient and the conceptualization of “the Other.” The West views the Orient as a single entity without respecting their individuality, and such misleading conceptions still permeates our society even to this day. Such misconception is driven by the convenience of individuals assigning themselves to a social group and justification of violence by the government.
In Orientalism, Said addresses two primary issues with how “the Orient” has often been perceived. First, the imaginative geography of the Orient was based on the perspective of the West rather than of the Orientals themselves. Second, the Orient was perceived as a single, undifferentiated entity. According to Said, “Orientalism was ultimately a political vision of reality whose structure promoted the difference between the familiar (Europe, the West, “us”) and the strange (the Orient, the East, “them”)” (Said 43).
Indeed, the West constructed the image of the East as something alien from the Westerners’ perspective. From the West’s perspective, “Orientalism has always been based on a desire to know, and not merely to construct, or even vilify, the Other” (Shatz). Because of the power of Western nations, the Western image became globally powerful and within this image the East was often seen backward and uncivilized. “Only an Occidental could speak of Orientals” and “Orientalists… conveyed a sense of the irreducible distance separating… Occidental from Oriental” (Said 228). The result was the creation of “the Other,” which exaggerated the division between the West and rest of the world. Such perspective is reflected from the start of the book, when “the Orientals” were often seen as “exotic beings” by “the Occidentals,” an oversimplification and misrepresentation of “the Orientals” as unusual being (Said 1).
In essence, the Western perspective viewed the geography of the East as a single body that completely neglected the numerous cultures of the Orient based on their fantasies.
Said also illustrates the exploitation of such ideas for the exercise of power. He argues that “the important thing was to dignify simple conquest with an idea” (Said 216). Orientalism was used by the Europeans for the justification of imperialism and colonization of the Orient – they claimed, “regions of the earth designated as “uncivilized” … ought to be annexed or occupied by advanced powers” (Said 207). Essentially, the Western image of the Orient was a civilization inferior compared to the Occident and “problems to be solved or confined or… taken over” (Said 207).
Imaginative geographies, in essence, are rooted from a natural tendency for individuals to assign themselves to a group that they associate with – in this case the Occident and the Orient. With that division and the respective associated value of each side such as the superiority of the West and the inferiority of the East, the identification of individuals as being part of the Occident would then determine how they would perceive and interact with the rest of the world for their convenience.
While the concept of Orientalism, as described by Said, more focused on the fascination and curiosity that the Occident had towards the Orient, such imaginative geographies extended towards “Islamophobic form of contemporary Orientalism” (Shatz). Indeed, the distorted view of the Orients, dating back to rationalizing colonization with colonization to modern-day society, provided self-serving “justifications needed to wage a “war on terror” against Islam, Islamism and Muslims” (Hatem 6).
Each ethnic group, religious group, etc. has a unique culture, but this creates a tendency for the public to simply group them together to reinforce stereotypes, without any respect for the individuality of the targeted people simply due to imaginative geographies being an easy way to categorize and organize how individuals view the world around them.
Said brings up “the main intellectual issue raised by Orientalism [and imaginative geography]” is whether one can “divide human reality, as indeed human reality seems to be genuinely divided, into clearly different cultures, histories, traditions, societies, even races, and survive the consequences humanly?” (Said 45). In the case of the Orient, which is described as an amorphous, single entity from Western perspective, is not a set geography with specific boundaries. It includes spans of wide territory – different religions, ethnic groups, etc. – and such depiction completely neglects the individuality of each region, ethnic group, religious group and dilutes the diversity into a single entity of the Orient.
What is geography in study? What is geography in study?
The book Orientalism mentions a “Tautological force of the notion that: “an Oriental is an Oriental,” and how “that is all that needs to be known about them to know everything of importance” (Said 39). The quote captures the misstatement and inaccurate portrayal of the Orient, completely neglecting the uniqueness of the ethnic, religious and other numerous groups that comprises the East. It is also important to recognize that on the institutional level, there are media institutions and governments that have their own agendas. The media is driven by sensationalism, attracted to visceral, catcher-eye aspects regarding their financial and revenue-related aspects. Institutions that are not regulated and have freedom to manipulate the opinions of the public sets dangerous precedents for the younger generation.
For instance, once the government vaguely states that they will declare war on terror, most people are uninformed regarding its details. As a symbol of authority that acts in the interest of the citizens, the government’s claim may render the public to believing in misleading ideologies. In part this is due to “the “East” [being] increasingly inside the “West.” This is a clash not of civilizations, but rather a collision of two overlapping phenomena” (Shatz). These ideas are self-reinforcing – once there exists these imaginative geographies in place, unless educated otherwise, the public will believe into these perceived boundaries.
What is geography in study? What is geography in study?
Indeed, imaginative geographies are constructed as boundaries that are not physical, but everything else in between. The concept of Orientalism itself serves as a perspective from the West about the East, neglecting the East’s own definition and perspective of themselves. Such portrayal of the Orient remains deeply rooted in our society today. We live in a time when accurate delivery of information is more crucial than ever, yet as the number of reliable platforms decrease they are replaced by untrustworthy sources. Information is delivered from a financial perspective, especially with changes in information technology.
With more dynamic, interactive input of information from media platforms, it is pivotal that we are entitled to objective information. Inaccurate delivery of information ties back to echo chamber. Not only are media platforms presenting information based on eye-catching headlines, but the public also only listens to information that they want to listen about and read about information that they want to listen about – a dangerous phenomenon. Under such exacerbation of misrepresentation and inaccurate delivery of facts, the perspective of the Occident towards the Orient will remain deeply rooted in our society, and it is crucial that modern day technology does not reinforce these narratives people believe in.
Bibliography
Hatem, Mervat. “MESA PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS 2OO8: Power and Knowledge Revisited in Middle East Studies.” Review of Middle East Studies, vol. 43, no. 1, 2009, pp. 3–10. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/41888549. Accessed 26 Oct. 2022.
Said, Edward W. Orientalism. Vintage Books, 2004.
Shatz, Adam. “’Orientalism,’ Then and Now: Adam Shatz.” The New York Review of Books, 28 Oct. 2020, https://www.nybooks.com/online/2019/05/20/orientalism-then-and-now/?lp_txn_id=1391113.
Brandon Oh
