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Influence of western culture in india
Analysis of orientalism
Clash between european and indian culture
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Since the height of Colonisation, literature has been fascinated with concept of the East. The people, the culture and, the imagined promiscuity of Oriental nations, enabled a powerful, although fabricated, dichotomy between the morally abiding occident, and the liberation of the Orient. However, this literary convention of representing all Eastern nations as one homogenous culture which is exterior to England, creates serious issues for identity construction post-colonisation, as many Englishmen maintain strong links to their Eastern heritages, despite living in London.
The identity crisis this creates for colonised people living in the motherland, is explored within the short story 'My Son the Fanatic ' as 'Pakish ' men, Parvez and Ali, struggle to make peace with their hybrid identities as a result of the linguistically constructed, East/West binary opposition. Their internalisation of this literary convention, acts as a catalyst for their intergenerational conflict as Parvez - born in Pakistan but, living in London- unsuccessfully attempts to mediate between the two cultures, while his English-born son Ali, rejects his
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In turn, this creates an intergenerational conflict with his father as he believes that Parvez is "too implicated in Western civilisation" (Kureishi 125) and needs to be saved from the "the Western materialists [that] hate us" (126), despite never experiencing life in Pakistan for himself (126). Hence, a contradiction arises in Ali 's perception of the Orient as he exteriorises the culture as something exotic and alluring, by associating "paradise" (Kureishi 126) with the Muslim tradition of Jihad, although he maintains that it is the only law-abiding
Alfred Noyes wrote The Empire Builders at the turn of the twentieth century. Despite the time at which it was written in, there are various post-colonial themes regarding the hierarchy of difference. The tone of the poem is pessimistic which is understandable since Noyes is writing during the Naturalist period of English literature. Noyes is speaking to the middle class of England; those who “fulfill their duties as they come” (Noyes, 45). He uses the first person plural article to create a unification between the readers and the narrator. Noyes, in his poem, addresses two postcolonial themes of Christianity as a vehicle of colonization, and the fallacies of European philosophy. In this essay, I argue that the themes and structure that have been connoted in Alfred Noyes’ The Empire Builders are essential in constructing the notion of the hierarchy of difference. The hierarchy of difference helped create a colonial state and since postcolonial theory primarily analyzes the legacies of the colonial period, it is essential to know the hierarchy of difference. I will divide my essay in three parts: in stage one I discuss the structure of the poem and how it creates a hierarchy of difference. In stage two I discuss the two themes mentioned above and how they establish a fragmented world between the occident and the orient. Finally in stage three I discuss the conception of time that is discussed in the poem and its relationship to postcolonial theory.
Lastly Khaled Hosseini looks at a Afghan family and how its each family members commitment and strong bond is what is essential in ones future/identity. In the novel it was evident that Pari’s relationship with her family, mainly her brother, Abdullah was Pari’s source of unconditional love and it was that very thing that kept Pari connected to her roots which is the very thing that shaped her future/identity. Pari’s uncle was the very reason why Pari was sold in the novel and the cause of Abdullah being stripped from his only family. In the novel the separation of Pari and Abdullah caused sever pain as Abdullah was not just a brother rather he played the mother and father figure for Pari. In the novel the author, Khaled Hosseini uses many
Orientalism, which became famous as a term after Edward Said’s book written in 1978, explains a power relation between the Orient and the Occident inspiring from the Foucault’s The Archeology of Knowledge and
As Josselson (2012) argues, it is simpler for the people to fix multicultural or multiracial individuals into a single cultural or racial identity, although realistically, most people find it difficult to categorize oneself in a single-margin. This is apparent in the reading White Teeth and Tar Baby, where the character’s identity is influenced by a socially embedded habitus of values, expectations and self-understanding, or lack there-of. In order to understand the challenges of racial and cultural identity in these novels, I will first look at characters Son and Jadine from Tar Baby and Samad and his twin sons, Millat and Magid from White Teeth.
I do not consider myself Paki-American. I am too "Americanized" to be Pakistani. (although by birthright, I am American), and I am not quite up to par with the American way of life. So what does all this have to do with my culture, what does a label really matter to cultural identity? It matters much. I believe that this seemingly trivial confusion over labels reveals the even greater confusion that surrounds my cultural identity: Am I a bridge between these two multifaceted cultures, or have I become a mosaic displaying colors from here and there, and elsewhere too? Perhaps both, and I could be a colorful bridge, or perhaps neither. Whatever the case, I cannot seem to separate these absolutely disparate realities within me. Their forces are still clashing, coming together within me, creating a wonderful confusion out of me. I believe that to truly analyze my culture, the roots of this confusion must be explored. In the span of this essay, I must try to encompass the widths of two worlds, their unique interactions within me... which I hope constitute what is called culture.
Orientalism is never far from what Denys Hay ahs called the idea of Europe, a collective notion identifying ‘us’ Europeans as against all ‘those’ non-Europeans, and indeed it precisely what made that culture hegemonic both in and outside Europe: the idea of European identity as superior one in comparison with ass the non-European peoples and cultures (7).
The Early Modern period in England saw the politics of imperial powers “shape the diverse experiences of colonizer and colonized” (1), the number of trips increased and with them the exploration for discovering new territories, so that the questions of national identity were abundant throughout the eighteenth century. The new colonies gave rise to a new type of power over some different races; The relationship between conquerors and conquered meant the formation of new ways of asserting power. In Oroonoko, Aphra Behn represents the minds of some people in search of power and struggle.
The British Empire at its height, encompassed vast amounts of territories; consequently, within the scope of land under British rule there was also a large range of races and nationalities. Attitudes towards these races and nationalities were as varied as the territories themselves. The expansion of this empire can be viewed as the prominent base factor that allowed the study of these new dominions, this catalysed and formed ideas on race and nationality during this period; other influencing factors such as; scientific research of the time and media representation of other cultures; through the medium of travel writing and journals . However, before Analysing British attitudes on this subject in this period, it is important to define both race and nationality and the difference between them. Firstly race, The Oxford dictionary defines race as; ‘each of the major divisions of humankind, having distinct physical characteristics ’. The oxfords dictionary’s definition of nationality, however, is more confusing; its first definition is ‘the status of belonging to a particular nation’, however its second definition is; ‘an ethnic group forming a part of one or more political nations’. From these definitions we can take a few conclusions on the use of race and nationality; Race refers to physical characteristics that can differentiate between peoples such as African and Caucasian; however, nationality can be seen as the belonging to a specific country or even to an identifiable sub culture within a nation. Hence, in the context of this essay when referring to peoples of African origin this must be considered a race, however, nationality may be used to describe peoples of a country or cultural subgroups within a country. These de...
The term orientalism is descriptive of the portrayal of different characteristics of Middle Eastern cultures by writers from the West. While some of these writings show the Eastern cultures in a positive light, the majority of them are biased and emphasise on existing or imaginary negative aspects as perceived by strangers to the Eastern culture. There are Western based designers, writers and even artists who have, over the centuries, sought to depict different facets of the Eastern cultures. One famous scholar, Edward Said, actually addressed different facets of orientalism in his book on the subject (Said 1978). His discourse uses both artistic as well as academic trains of thought to define different qualities of Middle Eastern cultures as defined from the Western perspective. According to Ghazoul (2004), among other scholars, Edward Said’s observations are reminiscent of attitudes that extolled European imperialism in the days of colonialism.
This first concept of Orientalism is blatantly reflected in the words of Evelyn Baring Cromer. Cromer was England's representative in Egypt between 1882 and 1907. He believed in European supremacy and called Egyptians, and all other people he considered Oriental, subject races. He justified European occupation in Egypt with this idea of superio...
Salman Rushdie’s novel Midnight’s Children employs strategies which engage in an exploration of History, Nationalism and Hybridity. This essay will examine three passages from the novel which demonstrate these issues. Furthermore, it will explore why each passage is a good demonstration of these issues, how these issues apply to India in the novel, and how the novel critiques these concepts.
This notion is reminiscent of Edward Said’s understanding of the oriental as an artificial, false concept created by the West to describe the East. Mustafa Sa’eed echoes this notion numerous times, “This Mustafa Sa’eed does not exist. He is an illusion, a lie. I ask you to rule that lie to be killed. Why don’t you sentence me to be hanged and so kill the lie?” (46). Similarly, the narrator asserts that “if we are lies we shall be lies of our own making”. Both characters become a mouthpiece for articulating an awareness of the illusory thinking contended by Salih. However, underlying their statements is something more crucial: the narrator’s assertion cannot be an alternative to the lie that Mustafa claims he is, simply because they are inherently the same thing. Both are artificial constructs and both depend on exclusionary, rigid notions of what it means to be Eastern/Western and both necessarily rely on the other in its construction. Salih concedes sameness in accepting or opposing the Western and foreign or the Eastern and traditional and illustrates how embracing either one can valorise similar boundaries, impoverish and envelop people and nations into similar catastrophes. He proposes a nuanced understanding where the clash between the East and the West, the North
The Reluctant Fundamentalist is a taut and engaging piece of fiction, exploring the growing chasm between the East and the West. Mohsin Hamid has used a rather unique narrative mode- the dramatic monologue –and used it skillfully to weave an account of a young Pakistani’s class aspirations and inner struggle in corporate America. Throughout the novel, Hamid maintains a tense atmosphere, an atmosphere of imminent danger and radical violence. What results from the two devices is an allegorical reconstruction of post-9/11 tensions, and an inflective young man’s infatuation and disenchantment with America.
When in 1978 Edward W. Said published his book Orientalism, it presented a turning point in post-colonial criticism. He introduced the term Orientalism, and talked about 2 of its aspects: the way the West sees the Orient and the way the West controls the Orient. Said gave three definitions of Orientalism, and it is through these definitions that I will try to demonstrate how A Passage to India by E. M. Forster is an Orientalist text. First, Said defined Orientalism as an academic discipline, which flourished in 18th and 19th century.
Postcolonial authors use their literature and poetry to solidify, through criticism and celebration, an emerging national identity, which they have taken on the responsibility of representing. Surely, the reevaluation of national identity is an eventual and essential result of a country gaining independence from a colonial power, or a country emerging from a fledgling settler colony. However, to claim to be representative of that entire identity is a huge undertaking for an author trying to convey a postcolonial message. Each nation, province, island, state, neighborhood and individual is its own unique amalgamation of history, culture, language and tradition. Only by understanding and embracing the idea of cultural hybridity when attempting to explore the concept of national identity can any one individual, or nation, truly hope to understand or communicate the lasting effects of the colonial process.