this post was submitted on 08 May 2025
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How would you describe orientalism? I'm Asian and grew up in the US. I don't really get it, and maybe a lot of discomfort I've felt in my life would make more sense if I could identify when I see it. (hexbear.net)
submitted 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) by HexaSnoot@hexbear.net to c/askchapo@hexbear.net
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Feel free to add common myths about the East that you'd like cleared up. Or how you've already cleared it up. It might help me or another reader.

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[–] Andrzej3K@hexbear.net 0 points 3 months ago (1 children)

But our shorthand for, say, Europe's Middle age doesn't actually replace anyone's understanding of European history. Even if people don't know all that much about it, they'll understand that the art doesn't actually communicate much about that cultural or historical reality.

I don't think this is true at all actually. It's just different degrees of problematic

[–] Wheaties@hexbear.net 0 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Maybe my understanding of orientalism is wrong. As I see it, Western culture developed a set of ideas and tropes about other cultures that have, at best, a tenuous and overly-broad connection to the lives of a lot of different peoples that have been lumped together. Then it compounds, with new works recursively referencing older orientalist works, rather attempting to form even a single genuine connection to any of the many, many cultures that are supposedly being referenced.

[–] huf@hexbear.net 2 points 2 months ago

post-renaissance europe also has a somewhat similar relationship with medieval europe too. it's a dark age, y'know, when people were stupid and brutish and lived under feudalism, not like in our enlightened times.