Colonialism and the Exotic - Case Study Example

Romantic Writing The notions of colonialism, Orientalism Orientalism is a false cultural view of the western countries which leads to misrepresentation of the east and the Middle East countries in general. He takes the western powers to have a negative attitude towards the east and the Middle East. The orient’s cultural practices are sidelined instead of them being embraced. Everyone takes the western character which is deemed to be colonialism. They use an imagery of the Asian countries and the Middle East; create romantic scenes which they use to abuse the Asian culture so much that it irritates. There are some Arabs who embrace these characteristics of people from the West. Due to that, they have harnessed some wealth for themselves. These are the type of people that have been condemned by the poetry (Nigel, 86). Edward Said criticizes theses characters who are the ruling class of Arab elites who are playing sycophancy to the romanticized Arabic social cultural and economic practices which were brought about by the British Americans. So they are seen as outcasts because they have a foreign culture that the rest of the Arabs would not like to enumerate. Their minds are preoccupied by the western cultures that are not of importance to the eastern countries. Colonialism is culture that was brought about by the west. It was something meant for their own economic interests (Rene, 67). They only wanted free labor which has made their economies what they are today. Colonization is not a good culture at all. It is not fair at all to hold a fellow human being as your slave exposing him to the worst conditions ever without paying him anything as remuneration. The orients never advocated for that and so thought it was a bad influence that was being introduced to them and they never accepted it. In so doing they developed hatred for the western cultures and never wanted to get involved in any of their dealings. Further, he brings about this image that Americans have when it comes to the Arabic countries. First, that Arabs are blessed with oil and that is the only thing that comes into their minds whenever they here of an Arab or a Muslim (Rene, 42). Secondly, they associate Arabs and Muslims with criminal activities like terrorism and such like activities. In short the west is so negative about the Arabs and their culture and that is why maybe they may want them to embrace their western culture. Oriental Renaissance First, a definition of these terms is important. For instance, the term ‘oriental literary’ means eastern. These are the eastern countries examples being Asia and Middle East. Renaissance, this can be taken to mean movement or migration or change from one point to another or from one level of doing things to the next. The ancient east existed before it was colonized by Europeans; this led to some level of civilization to the orient (Rene, 89). This civilization is what is termed as the renaissance of the orient that is civilization of the east. It was a romantic movement. It was characterized by romanticism, which was a western culture and that was what they wanted to avoid at all costs. The transformations into civilization have been based on the archeological data that was in archives which was then extended to religion and then to the arts and later to the entire cultural practices of these communities in the ancient east. There are discoveries still being made to date about this civilization due to the studies carried on the materials that are available in the archives (Moscati 5). The ancient eastern countries include, Palestine, Syria, Arabia, Egypt, Iran, Anatolia and Mesopotamia(7). The ancient civilization lies outside the Mediterranean area. In this region, they had mud walled houses in some parts while in others there were walls made of bricks which were hand made. All the floors were made of mud but the foundation was made of reeds which made the houses stronger. These were the characteristics of Mesopotamia and Jerusalem. In Mesopotamia is where there were mud walled houses while in Jerusalem there were brick walls. From such kind of architectural advancements, there is an observation that these regions had really undergone some levels of civilization in that they could there is importance in having good housing facilities such as what they had developed. Now in romantic poetry such a thing would be taken for granted and some ironical statements made which were so provocative. Other developments that were in these ancient times were things like ovens, stoves and cisterns which were earthen. There was an observation that some bones were present in their homesteads, this was a clear symbol that animals were present in these homes hence a conclusion that they reared domestic animals which they used for food and other domestic uses. (14). Civilization is something that has come gradually to the habitats of the east and the Middle East countries. From the information received from the archives there is a trend that is seen in the development of activities in the Asian countries in the sense that, they start engaging in farming activities witnessed by them keeping domestic animals and using irrigation to farm as seen in Mesopotamia that was a big establishment in terms of developing survival skills in the rapidly changing civilization then. It was a wise decision for them to reject the European ways of doing things for they did not understand most of the things and methods that were being used by the Europeans. They showed a sense of independence and that even if the Europeans left them they would still survive and live on with their lives. This early civilization is what has led to the current developments in the east and the Middle East regions as compared to the African countries. It is important to note that countries like India have embraced their culture and have nurtured it and it is bearing fruits for them. Currently, in India people do not import commodities that are produced are produced locally in their country. This is a good culture for an economy that really wants to develop. Buying local goods cuts down the cost of importing and other expenses incurred in brokerage and other services like shipment. This was brought about by the culture of using whatever you have then purchase what you are unable to have within your reach. Examples of this culture exhibited by Indians are like in the motor vehicles production, in India you have to buy vehicles like tata before you precede to import any other type of vehicle from else where. This has really promoted the local producers of motor vehicles in that country and it is commendable. They are several steps ahead of most countries which embraced the western cultures and entirely rely on them basically on everything. How can such a country grow its economy while spending so much importing what can be produced within their means? It is that the west laid a foundation for them and brought in a notion that producing the goods is not easy. The question that should be running in our minds is, if it is not easy how do they do it and excess to export? The same countries where they buy raw materials from are where they sell their fully processed products. The correct reasoning should be, if they want a raw material, they should set up their industries where they easily access the inputs and not incur all the transportation costs to their countries and add the cost of transportation to that of production and the end user of the product is the one who suffers the burden of that cost when purchasing it for domestic use. The education systems the west introduced to these countries was valueless in that someone could study from the lowest classes to university level but there is nothing big this same person can do as that person in the west who has undergone the same system can do. This means that most at times they tended to drag the people of the eastern countries by putting them through a system they did not understand and so believed that it would help them in the future which really never happened. People should be wondering why those countries whose citizens accepted the European systems are not developed so much. It is because they trusted them too much that they never considered their programs as viable. Thinking critically, there is something that comes across that is, these Europeans also began somewhere and developed to where they are at present (Edward, 24). Why wouldn’t they allow other nations to undertake their own fields and develop them? Whatever comes up here is that they were training these inferior countries on how to use their products and by so doing they were to develop a market for their goods which otherwise were not of any importance to these countries since they were in existence before the west invaded their countries. Looking at the medical field we find out that in India there are several doctors who do a great job. This is so because they followed their own ways of living. They have had so much medical advancement. The west normally would want medical facilities to be offered by them to the locals now that is not possible in Asia in that they are into producing their medicine and they are learning on how to deal with several ailments that people suffer from. These medical advancements are due to the civilization of the east and is brought about by their culture of believing in themselves and that is how they end up producing their medical facilities cutting import costs that would otherwise escalate the economy’s expenditure on what can be manufactured locally (Raymond, 58). These developments do not go well with the west now that they consider that a lost market for their products. We can see how important the eastern civilization was to them and even today there are effects of that civilization in these countries and it can be witnessed by the advances made in several industries and the amount of finished products that are being exported by these countries. It is because of a sense of believing and being disciplined that all that achievement comes and soon or late the Arab economies will rule the world. The presentation of the western and the eastern other The western countries present themselves as being superior to the other countries. It is a thought that is in them and it is hard to convince them that there is superiority within the human race. All humans are equal and so the sense of superiority should be shunned (Coleridge et al, 24). Looking down upon other economies is not the best of things these countries should be doing, in fact they are supposed to appreciate them for these is where they sell most of their products and also these is where they get their raw materials. So having such a negative attitude towards the other countries is not a good idea. The levels of racism that are in the west are so unbecoming. When someone is visiting some of the countries there is a lot of discrimination and abuse forgetting that the same people they mistreat are the same ones who use products they manufacture (Rene, 20). It is not fair for them to practice racism and yet all are from the human race. They also tend to think that their technologies are the best but that is purely according to them. My reflection on the image of the orient in romantic poetry and its misleading effects is that, there are many other ways in which people should express their feelings. In this kind of art, there are a lot of things that have been hidden, if they are misinterpreted then they give a totally different view of things. In my opinion these poetry is meant to cover up some issues which are better told as they are without fear or favor. Works cited Moscati, The face of ancient orient near eastern civilization.London.Vallentine, Mitchell &co, ltd, 1960.Print Edward Said’s article in A210A The Realist Novel “Culture and Imperialism” pp. 274-78. Nigel Leask article in Romantic Writings “Colonialism and the Exotic” pp. 223-46. Rene Wellek ‘s article in Romantic Writings “The concept of Romanticism in literary history” pp. 325-38. Raymond Schwab in Romantic Writings “The Oriental Renaissance” pp. 292-99. S.T. Coleridge, “Kubla Khan”; Shelley “Ozymandias”; Thomas De Quincey, “The Confessions of an English Opium Eater”, Byron, “The Corsair”. Read More