21 - Neo Orientalism

Exploring Western perceptions of modern Turkey.

The concept of Orientalism is based on how the “West” depicts the “East”. The famous intellectual Edward Said interprets it as Europe’s manner of acknowledging the East as it’s “Other” – something exotic and romantic, but also dangerous and unknown. Orientalist perceptions were stimulated by French and English artists in the 1800’s who created an image of countries in the East – from Turkey to Japan – which were highly romanticized and contrived. One of the most popular depictions of Istanbul in the early nineteenth century was painted by an artist who had never been to city in his life. Much like his painting, the general impression Westerners had of the East was not accurate at all.

Today, in an era of globalization, with high bandwidth electronic networks and instant transnational communication one would think Orientalism to be a thing of the past, but this is not so. Western perceptions of the East continue to be skewed by the media, which generally only reports on sensational or disastrous events in foreign countries. This leads to the reinforcement of old stereotypes, fears and biases that the average Westerner has of countries in the ‘East’. These ingrained and largely inaccurate perceptions can be indiscernible to the average Westerner until they travel to an ‘Eastern’ country and experience it firsthand.

Living in Turkey while on exchange from UVic, I was able to discover the country as it is, not as it is purported to be. Speaking with other exchange students in my university and with friends and family back home it became apparent that a form of Orientalism still exists in the West. Every North American exchange student I spoke with had a common story of how their parents had tried to talk them out of going to Turkey – stating that it was too dangerous and unstable. One friend from UVic who was on exchange in Poland, said she initially wanted to go to Turkey but her parents had refused to offer financial assistance if she did.

Another example of this disjoint between reality and Western impressions occurred mid way through my stay. The American government was attempting to pass a bill confirming the occurrence of the Armenian genocide in 1915 by the Turkish military. The incident made headline news worldwide, depicting Turks as “furious” over the motion, complete with images of Turks waving flags angrily and yelling. Immediately I began to receive emails warning me to “stay away from crowded places”, “stop hanging out with Americans”, and “wear lots of Canadian flags”. The American exchange students stated they had received emails from their government advising them to stay away from Turks and public places.

The reality of the situation was far from what our friends back home perceived it to be. The North American media was doing it’s best to make the incident into another “mid-east hotspot” story, only portraying the minority of Turks who had strong emotions over the issue. Not once did I hear about the Armenian genocide bill from any Turks in Istanbul. No negativity was experienced whatsoever, and people continued to be just as friendly as they always had been.

Another factor working to cultivate a skewed ‘Orientalist’ view of Turkey is the Western media’s treatment of Islam and Muslim people in general. With streaming images of Islamic fundamentalists and suicide bombings beaming into our homes every night, the message we are being sent is that Muslim people are unstable religious fanatics. In Turkey, over 90 percent of the population is Muslim. All of my Turkish friends are Muslim, but they don’t all have the same degree of devotion or the same interpretation of the Qur’an. While many of my Muslim friends pray five times a day and don’t drink alcohol, others show no outward signs of prayer or abstention from alcohol.

Above: where the West gets it's impressions of Muslims

One of the most important things I have learned while on exchange is that although the distances between countries may be closer than ever in a business sense, the gaps in cultural understanding are still far apart. Western perceptions of the East have evolved, but are still ‘Orientalist’ in nature.

As our world becomes more interconnected through economic and political exchange, it is increasingly important to use cultural exchanges and information technologies to develop independent perceptions of the nature and values of different societies. As mainstream media providers become compromised by corporate and political agendas, it becomes imperative for us as individuals to seek information from as many different sources as possible. Our personal standard for objective information is the compass we rely on as we navigate a future of growing global interdependence.