orientalism - oral prep Flashcards
What is the title of your dissertation?
Using Orientalism to explore the sexualisation and demonisation of Eastern people and the Harem during the mid-late 19th century.
The victorian period was a time which saw…
increase imperial advancement by European nations and marked the end of 22 year long war between France again Britain and other nations.
What happened as a result of the French wars?
Britain, like other nations, began trying to rebuild the loses suffered after the war esp. financially.
What was the financial loss of GB after the French wars?
£600 million.
what is the political context of the time?
the political context: Britains foreign policy can be divided into clear objectives during the Victorian era:
1. maintain peace with Europe.
2. develop and maintain trade routes.
3. expand into new markets and discover raw materials.
4. assist in the development of democratic nations - easier to trade if had similar customs.
predominantly impacted Asia and Africa.
What was British interest in Turkey and the Egypt during the Mid-late 19th century?
Turkey: was still being run by the Ottoman Empire however its position had weakened and there was a continuous threat of Russia expanding into Constantinople - Britain had to suppress the Russian threat in order to protect there route to India and the cotton trade.
Egypt: Egypt has one of the most important trading routes (Suez Canal) which is why it has always been of interest to Britain and in 1882 it came under British occupation due to the country piling up debt to the British government - Lord Cromer = governor of Egypt and argued that the natives were “incapable of self-government” and therefore needed civilised assistance.
what was the social context of the Victorian era.
- huge emphasis on social reform - couple of reform acts introduced in 1832 and in 1850 calling for the enfranchisement of middle class men. Personal freedoms.
- 1830s and 1840s was a time of economic struggle as the depression hit and impacted Britain’s inner cities.
- changes in trends - Orientalist art, literature and travel journals remerged as “fashionable” upper classes would purchase paintings of undiscovered lands to show their friends and keep In their homes.
What event changed the audience of Orientalist ideas?
1869 - invention of the postcard - enabled Orientalism to influence a much wider demographic - as postcards could be purchase for 1p which completely industrialised art.
reasons for choosing the topic?
- growth in in Islamophobia in the UK, in 2020 there was 1115 Islamophobic hate crime committed in London alone.
- Portrayal of Muslims or Islamic people in the media is either negative or they are only being discussed when talking about extremism and terrorism - distorting public image.
- Our prime minister’s own offensive rhetoric describing women in Burqua’s as “letter boxes” and there is currently an ongoing investigation into the sacking of a Muslim MP Nus Ghani, who accuses a fellow tory MP of saying her “Muslim Woman Minister status is making her colleagues uncomfortable”
who is the leading pioneer of Orientalism?
Edward Said
why is Edward Said considered a pioneer in the field?
many historians commend him for his work challenging and changing the way scholars approach post-colonial studies.
creating post-colonial theory.
what is Said’s work / argument about?
the 1978 book Orientalism, by Edward Said is a descriptive analysis of the meaning of Orientalism and the different forms it can take.
Said describes orientalism as “style of thought” and set of distinctions made about the Orient (East) and the Occident (west) it is the production of knowledge and images about the Eastern world presented as fact by the West.
What do critics of Said accuse him of?
“Occidentalism” meaning presuming that the entire Western world is prone to colonial prejudice against the East due to the misleading language used.
do you think Said has inadvertently fallen into Occidentalism?
No. the language used in some cases could be deemed provocative - but his overall aim is to highlight that there is a level of subconscious prejudice existing in all of us as a result of colonialism and Oriental stereotypes which have continued to exist through out time as manmade constructs. just as the Orient and Occident are.
which scholars are you using for your historiography?
Isra Ali and Derek Hopwood
