Who were the Orients and the Occident? By theory, orients belonged to the eastern and the occidents belonged to the western part of the world. But all these geographical distinctions in society are all man-made. In fact the occidents call themselves the west and the orients the east is also man-made.

What is orientalism?

We start by describing two councils of the society, Humanists and the Scholars. Humanists are those who are concerned with the interest and welfare of humans of the society. While the scholars play along the politics and policies of the government of the society.

It was basically a part of an era where the scholars of the western society started talking about a theory called orientalism. This theory was infused into the politics which intern infused into the culture and finally into the society.

The people have a conscious or unconscious involvement in spreading orientalism. Consciously as the scholars who propagate orientalism through their texts and literature. Unconsciously by the people who spread orientalism by taking part in the discussions about these policies for the mere activity of being a member of the society even though it hardly matters to them nor affects their lives.

The after effects of this movement was something that the westernizers totally expected. The orients themselves started believing that they had no authority of representation through writing, thinking nor act. The orients couldn’t express themselves due to the limitations on thought and action imposed on them by orientalism.

The success of this movement was mainly due to the whole cultural state or cultural coming together as discussed consciously or unconsciously to impose orientalism on the orients. For the European scholars it wasn’t just an idea of superiority but also a material investment and an area of profit.

The two fears the author talks about is inaccuracy and distortion. All the policies on Orientalism are based on theories which may not even be scientifically proven or even stated that they are undeniable. 

Orientalism is an elaboration not only on the basis of basic geographical distinction but also a whole series of “interests” such as landscape, sociological description, culture, etc.

I believe that the theory of orientalism can be changed by making people aware of its history, origin, manipulation, and its success. Only then will people stand up for themselves and question the theories which has no base.