orientalism
Fascination with Asia
Orientalism is a style in art, architecture, literature, or music that draws on imagery and themes from Asia and the Middle East—often depicting harems, bazaars, and exotic landscapes.
The term also describes a Western tendency to romanticize or exoticize Eastern cultures: The film was criticized for its orientalism.
Since Edward Said's influential 1978 book, orientalism increasingly carries negative connotations of condescension, stereotyping, and colonial attitudes toward "the Orient." (Capitalized Orientalism may refer specifically to Said's critique.)
Western art imitating Eastern design
- exoticismAllure of the unfamiliar
- arabesqueFlowing ornamental design
- DelacroixFrench Romantic painter
- odalisqueHarem slave or attendant
Turkish bath · Moorish architecture · decorative arts · costume design · Scheherazade · ballet · opera · Turandot
Open-air merchant district
- pagodaTiered Asian temple tower
- minaretMosque tower with balcony
- mosqueIslamic house of worship
- caravanseraiTraveler's courtyard lodge
silk · spices · incense · hookah · carpet · turban · veil · harem
Strikingly unusual, foreign-seeming
- despotRuler with absolute power
- unchangingNot varying at all
- timelessUnaffected by eras
- sensualOf bodily pleasure
irrational · backward · passive · inscrutable · mystical · fanatical · decadent · serpentine
Domination through foreign settlement
- imperialismExtending dominion over others
- British RajImperial rule over India
- East India CompanyBritish colonial trading corporation
- Ottoman EmpireTurkish sultanate, 1299-1922
Silk Road · Age of Discovery · trade routes · exploration · gunboat diplomacy · Suez Canal · mercantilism · colonial administration
chinoiserie
Western art imitating Eastern design
odalisque · Turkish bath · Moorish architecture · decorative arts · costume design · Scheherazade · ballet · opera · Turandot · Mikado
bazaar
Open-air merchant district
caravanserai · silk · spices · incense · hookah · carpet · turban · veil · harem · palm trees
exotic
Strikingly unusual, foreign-seeming
- despotRuler with absolute power
- unchangingNot varying at all
- timelessUnaffected by eras
sensual · irrational · backward · passive · inscrutable · mystical · fanatical · decadent · serpentine · opulent
colonialism
Domination through foreign settlement
- imperialismExtending dominion over others
- British RajImperial rule over India
- East India CompanyBritish colonial trading corporation
Ottoman Empire · Silk Road · Age of Discovery · trade routes · exploration · gunboat diplomacy · Suez Canal · mercantilism · colonial administration · diplomatic missions
- exotic decorbohemian, tribal art, desert oasis, zen, palm trees
- -ismsatomism, postmodernism, feminism, Marxism, Darwinism
- Orient travelDamascus, Aleppo, Baghdad, Cairo, Beirut
- Orientalismodalisque, Egyptology, snake charmer, harems, Turkish bath
- Victorian scholarshipphilology, classics, natural history, antiquarianism, classical studies
- critical theorydeconstruction, Marxism, feminism, simulacrum, postcolonialism