The Clash in the eyes of an African-American

The Clash in the eyes of an African-American

This class was my first formal education on the culture of the Middle East. I had studied the governmental policies of Iran and Egypt, but I had never looked at the culture of the people.
Over the course, I have recognized many parallels between the treatment of Arabs and African-American. The exploitation of the culture in media, the trinity of stereotypes and the treatment by Europeans all have interesting parallels. I wrote my first post with this idea in mind. And throughout the course, the idea never left my mind. I was particularly affected by the idea of the media image of Black people and Middle Eastern people. Both are exploited for profit, the women are either incredibly over sexualized or incredibly angry, the men are brutish, lazy and greedy. These stereotypes or used to enforce racist government agendas, from lack of proper funding for education to illegal wars that devastate entire nations.
I do not know if the two communities will ever relate to each other and fight against the negative images that both receive. After all, both of us are educated about each group through the media. The only entity that can ever unite us is education. Without education I will forever be the rap video vixen, and my Arab counterpart will be the colonial harem.

Is there always an other?

Is there always an “other”?

We often asked this question in class. Will there always be an other? And the answer is yes; there will always be another being or population to construct our identities against.
The act of creating an other isn’t the evil, however. The evil lies in the creation and manipulation of the ”other”. Whether it be for economic, social or sexual purposes, when this image and idea is manipulated, the construct of the other becomes the most damaging.
The east has always been quite different from the west. The language, dress, religion, food, and general culture are vastly different from that of European and American nations. However as westerners, we must remain vigilant in the fight against ignorance. There are many nuances of eastern culture that the west may never understand. But we must fight to respect them. We cannot become cowboys of the world and go tearing down institutions of the east, simply because they are different. Because just as the east is different from the west, England is different from France, New York is different from San Francisco, Harlem is different from Midtown. We are all blessed with the gift of diversity, a gift I cherish every time I eat a gyro, dance salsa, or watch Britain’s got talent. Its okay to have “others”, because we are all human, and all different, but the humanity of every being must never be denied.

Susan Boyle

In a class based on Edward Sad’s classic Orientalism, one would expect all discussions to be directly related to such. I expected all classes to be directly related to middle-eastern topics in order to understand the course’s main goal. However, a short YouTube sensation changed everything. Susan Boyle, an English woman, who meets few of the basic standards of beauty, challenged all of the public stereotypes. She provided an interesting add-on to our conversations about the other. How quickly do we make another being “the other”? I found it interesting that the public creates a familiar stereotype for women. In order to be considered attractive and worthy of attention, there has to be some sort of sexual element to their personality. Susan came out immediately and let lose any sort of sexuality she had. A pronounced virgin (though later debunked), she was void of any attractive qualities. And then she sang…. The beauty of her voice shocked a worldwide public. So many of us create borders and judgments about people very quickly, and Susan Boyle was the one of the first time that we could all publicly look at ourselves.

Is Orientalism Real

Is Orientalism Real?
Last week we watched a film titled Loose Change, it detailed the attack on the World Trade Center that subsequently led to the Iraq War. The construct of the Arab enemy who terrorized major American centers became an icon of the Iraq War. Orientalism is the construct created by Westerners of Eastern image and stereotypes. And Orientalism is the leading foundation for the Iraq War.
Orientalism is real, every single day an American soldier dies, or an Iraqi child is killed, and Orientalism is proven real. When humanity is overlooked for the sake of wealth and in the name of the White Man’s Burden so to speak, Orientalism is as prevalent as it ever was.
The more relevant question would be, can we ever change the status quo, can we ever rid ourselves of the Oriental constructs. Is it human nature? How do we stop hating one another? Will we ever be able to really understand each other?
As long as Orientalism is real, none of these questions will ever be answered.