Occidentalism

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Occidentalism is a term for stereotyped and sometimes dehumanizing views on the so-called Western world, including Europe, the United States, Australia and even modern Japan. The term was popularized by Ian Buruma and Avishai Margalit in their book Occidentalism: the West in the Eyes of its Enemies (2004). The term is an inversion of Orientalism, a label for stereotyped Western views of the east. A number of earlier books had also used the term, sometimes with different meanings.

Contents

1 Eastern views of the West
2 Occidentalism as a Western tradition
3 Further reading
4 See also

Eastern views of the West

Negative views of Western culture in the East can be traced back as far as Persian attitudes to Greek and Roman culture, or to later clashes between Islam and Christendom. However, the very definition of an East/West opposition has been fluid and uncertain. For example, in China the "Eastern" Han Dynasty (25-221 CE) portrayed a negative image of the "west" in the "Chapter on the Western Regions" in the Hou Hanshu. This is the official history of the dynasty. The book was compiled by Fan Ye, (died 445 CE), and it succinctly expresses the Han opinion of the Western Hu culture (in what is now western China):

The Western Hu are far away.

They live in an outer zone.

Their countries' products are beautiful and precious,

But their character is debauched and frivolous.

They do not follow the rites of China.

Han has the canonical books.

They do not obey the Way of the Gods.

How pitiful!

How obstinate!

Clearly the "west" here does not correspond to the modern meaning of the term, but it indicates that the Othering of geographically and culturally alien peoples has a long history.

With the spread of European trade and imperialism during the 18th and 19th centuries the modern concept of an East/West distinction came to be more clearly articulated. Derogatory or stereotyped portrayals of Westerners appear in many works of Indian, Chinese and Japanese artists during this period. At the same time Western influence in politics, culture, ecomonics and science came to be more strongly felt, and often resented. In the late 20th century many Western cultural themes and images began appearing in Asian art and culture, especially in Japan. English words and phrases are prominent in Japanese advertising and popular culture, and many Japanese animes are written around characters, settings, themes, and mythological figures derived from various Western cultural traditions. In contrast, some other cultures have sought to distance themselves from western influences and to emphasise native cultural traditions. In some cases this resistance extends to western economic and political models.

Occidentalism as a Western tradition

Buruma and Margalit argue that that this nationalist and nativist resistance to the "West" actually replicates responses to forces of modernisation that have their roots in Western culture itself, among both utopian radicals and nationalist conservatives who saw capitalism, liberalism and secularism as destructive forces. They argue that while early responses to the West represent a genuine encounter between alien cultures, many of the later manifestations of Occidentalism betray the influence on Eastern intellectuals of Western ideas, such as the supremacy of the Nation-State, the Romantic rejection of rationality and the alleged spiritual impoverishment of the citizens of liberal democracies. They trace this to German Romanticism and to the debates between the "Westernisers" and "Slavophiles" in 19th century Russia, asserting that similar arguments appear under differing guises in Maoism, Islamism, wartime Japanese nationalism and other movements.

Occidentalism

Eastern views of the West

Occidentalism as a Western tradition

Further reading

See also