Introduction
We live with and come across stereotypes in our average day to day experiences. Stereotypes come in many forms. A lady walking alone in a dark alley at night may see a bulky tattooed man in a leather jacket and give him a wide berth. Stereotypes can be harmless or on the other hand they can be very damaging.
The ‘West’ and ‘Asia’ have been on a collision course for centuries now. The two stand at extremely opposite and distant poles, constantly accusing the other of undermining their authority and casting each other in a negative light. One of the two is always at fault, with both parties always in denial of accusations that are leveled at them.
But who exactly is represented by the ‘West’ or the ‘occident’ and the ‘Asia’ or the ‘orient’? What stereotypes do the two sides have each other, what fuels the antagonism that lies between these two, and what is the role of tradition in fostering the unwavering enmity?
By looking at the works of four respected scholars who have dedicated their lifetimes to studying these stereotypes, and whose personal lives have in one way or the other been shaped by being from the ‘West’ or the Orient, I will try to answer the questions above in an attempt to shed light on the animosity and deep antagonism that there is between the ‘West’ or ‘Asia’.
What constitutes the ‘West’ and the ‘Orient’?
For one to fully perceive what one is, one has to have another with who to compare and contrast his/her attributes with, and weigh them against his own. This is very natural to the human nature. The understanding of ‘self’ is pegged on the understanding of the ‘other’- the person, or group of people with whom we choose to compare our own abilities, traits and beliefs. The tendency to look down upon this ‘other’, to dig up their faults and shortcomings so as to make us feel superior is also natural to us. We are more receptive to those who fall within our own social groups than those who fall into another category and whom we tend to treat with suspicion and hostility (Hobson & Ranger, 1992).
When it comes to ‘Orientalism’ first coined by Edward Said in his 1978 book of the same name, it was a term he used in reference to the West’s perception of Asia, particularly the Arab world as related to how the West has interacted with Asia in history (Said, 1978). Said asserts that the universally recognized and most accepted assignment for Orientalism is entirely academically inclined and this assignment is rigidly adhered to within academic circles such as institutions of learning. He further insists that any individual who engages in the Orient in one way or the other; be it through general or specified administration of learning, research and writing, irrespective of their field of study; anthropology, history, philosophy, is effectively categorized as an orientalist and by his actions, practices orientalism (Said, 1978, pg. 4)
According to Said, the Orient, which is physically adjacent to the West, has played the role of the ‘Other’ for the latter. The West colonized the Orient yet it was a source for what came to define Western culture
Said says that the West has fabricated a history and culture for the Orient, because the Orients themselves who are ignorant and backward are not in a position to fully understand their own history. This, exerts Said, has resulted in a breach between the truth of what the Orient actually is and what the West portrays it to be (Said, 1978).
The two authors Avishai Margalit and Ian Buruma look at the other side of the coin namely Occidentalism. The authors say that (Avishai & Buruma, 2004) in a limited way Occidentalism is a reaction to the kind of Orientalism that Said talks about. It is almost as if they are yin and yang to each other, only that neither side can be labeled purely evil or purely good. The authors say that there are four major ways in which Occidentalism is made manifest; the irrational loathing of urbanization and civilization which is seen as being equivalent to the hedonistic ‘Babylon’ of old, where the ancient extremes in entertainment have just been replaced with cinema, literature and popular music. The other feature of Occidentalism is a derogatory attitude towards the Western middle class who are seen as being profit oriented, individualistic, choosing comfort over personal danger and cowards in the sense that they would rather choose personal safety in place of acts of heroism at personal peril (Avisha & Buruma, 2004).
The other mark of Occidentalism, say Margalit and Buruma, is seeing abstracts such as spirit, race blood and soul as being superior to the bourgeois concepts of reason, science and rationality. Feminism, gender equity and female liberation are tenets that are rejected outright under Occidentalism because they are viewed as Western concepts (Margalit & Buruma, 2004)
What the occidentalists reject is the term of civilization and modernization as it is presented by the West, not necessarily because modernity in itself is evil or corrupt, but primarily because it belongs to the West (Margalit & Buruma, 2004).
Buruma and Margalit (2004) point out that when reference is made of the ‘West’, there is the tendency to assume that it is made in reference to America not including Europe. Foreign policy made by the U.S government has become modern day ‘Imperialism’ and American corporate power is blurred in with ‘globalization’. Hence, since America is the ‘West’, it also gets to feel the retribution for those who deem the west as the oppressors who have hindered progress and growth in their own countries.
The authors also note that Asia and the Orient is used in the context of the Middle East which are the Muslim, Arab speaking countries. This is where the Islamic extremists, the advocates of jihad are to be found. Islamic extremists believe in holy war where one’s life is inconsequential when it comes to carrying out the will of Allah. The West is their ‘devil’s advocate’ what with promoting capitalism, secularism and being the agent of globalization. These are good enough reasons for extremists to wage a holy war against the West (Buruma and Margalit, 2004).
A good example of what the antagonism between the orient and the occident has come to is the dual attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on September 11, 2001. It was primarily a symbolic attack against the pervasive reach of the U.S. and the American way of life. It is an attack made at the system itself and everything that that system stands for.
Conclusion
It is quite clear the differences between the two sides run so deep that it is a remote possibility that at some point in the future they might reconcile. The antagonism between the West and the East is so deeply rooted that it has become the norm; I think that without the west or Americans to hate on and castigate jihadists would be left at a loss because this is their purpose in life, to denounce America. The west on the other hand, has become accustomed to tailoring democracy for the East, meddling in their affairs as they dictate what is right and what is wrong for them.
Reconciliation if it were to occur would call for an overhaul of the mindsets of both the East and the West. As Hobsbawn (1992) points out, are inculcated over centuries and inbred firmly into their way of thinking. Thus, it would take as much time or more to‘re-program’ a person into thinking differently or abandoning traditions altogether.
My conclusion is that ‘East’ and ‘West’ relations are still steeped in traditions that color the perceptions both sides have of the other. There is suspicion and distrust on both sides, with none trusting the intentions of the other. The Orient accuses the West of being a greedy, individualistic, self centered lot, not given to personal sacrifice for the gain of the whole. The West, on the other hand, sees the Orients as a barbaric extremist lot. What is certain however that the war, be it cultural, social, religious economically centered is one that will have no clear victor.
Bibliography
Buruma Ian & Margalit Avishai (2004) Occidentalism: the West in the eyes of its enemies. London: Penguin Publishers.
Hobsbawn Eric, j & Ranger, Terence,O (1992) The Invention of tradition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Said Edward w (1978). Orientalism. NY: Routledge & Keagan.