Orientalism in the context of postcolonial studies Edward Said as a case study

Abstract

The Orientalist perspective is based on positioning the East in contrast to the West, where the West is assumed to represent progress, rationality, and civilization, while the East is viewed as backward, obscure, and mired in ignorance and superstition. Orientalism is not limited to the academic or political fields, but extends to literature and art, where Orientalist literature often portrays a distorted image of the East. These representations, which depict Eastern peoples as the “Other,” have contributed to reinforcing Western identities as “civilized” and “cultured.” In this context, postcolonial studies emerge, aiming to break this unjust binary stereotyping. It suggests that the East should not be understood through the Western lens, but must be reinterpreted according to its own cultures and history. Through objective studies, it seeks to rewrite history from an alternative perspective—one that allows for the recovery of marginalized cultures and proposes a re-representation of the East through literature, art, cinema, and social science. One of the prominent figures in these studies is the critic Edward Said, who is the cornerstone of this approach.