Orient
The Orient is a term referring to the East in relation to Europe, traditionally comprising anything belonging to the Eastern world. It is the antonym of the term Occident, which refers to the Western world.
In English, it is largely a
The term oriental is often used to describe objects (or, archaically, people) from the Orient.[1]
Etymology
The term "Orient" derives from the
Many ancient temples, including pagan temples and the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem, were built with their main entrances facing the East. This tradition was carried on in Christian churches.
The opposite term "
History of the term
Territorialization of the Roman term Orient occurred during the reign of emperor
Over time, the common understanding of "the Orient" has continually shifted eastwards, as European people travelled farther into Asia. It finally reached the Pacific Ocean, in what Westerners came to call "the Far East". These shifts in time and identification sometimes confuse the scope (historical and geographic) of Oriental Studies. Yet there remain contexts where "the Orient" and "Oriental" have kept their older meanings (e.g., "Oriental spices" typically are from the regions extending from the Middle East to sub-continental India to Indo-China). Travellers may again take the Orient Express train from Paris to its terminus in the European part of Istanbul, a route established in the early 20th century.
In European
Equally valid terms for the Orient still exist in the English language in such collocations as Oriental studies (now Asian Studies in some countries).
The adjectival term Oriental has been used by the West to mean cultures, peoples, countries, Asian rugs, and goods from the Orient. "Oriental" means generally "eastern". It is a traditional designation (especially when capitalized) for anything belonging to the
In more local uses, "oriental" is also used for eastern parts of countries such as
Since the 19th century, "orientalist" has been the traditional term for a scholar of Oriental studies; however, the use in English of "Orientalism" to describe academic "Oriental studies" is rare: the Oxford English Dictionary cites only one such usage, by Lord Byron in 1812. "Orientalism" is more widely used to refer to the works of the many 19th-century artists who specialized in "Oriental" subjects and often drew on their travels to North Africa and Western Asia. Artists, as well as scholars, were already described as "Orientalists" in the 19th century. In 1978, the Palestinian-American scholar Edward Said published his influential and controversial book, Orientalism, and used the term to describe a pervasive Western tradition, both academic and artistic, of prejudiced outsider interpretations of the Arab and Muslim worlds that has been shaped by the attitudes of European imperialism in the 18th and the 19th centuries.[10]
Current usage
British English
In British English, the term Oriental is sometimes still used to refer to people from East and Southeast Asia (such as those from China, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Mongolia, Brunei and Laos).[11]
"Asian" in Great Britain sometimes refers to people who come specifically from South Asia (in particular Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Maldives, Iran, and Afghanistan), since British Asians as a whole make up approximately 9.3% of the population within the United Kingdom, and people of an ethnically South Asian background comprise the largest group within this category.[12] "Orientals" refers exclusively to people of East and Southeast Asian origin, who constitute approximately 0.7% of the UK population as a whole. Of these, the majority are of Chinese descent.[13] Orient is also a word for the lustre of a fine pearl.[14] Hong Kong, a former British colony, has been called "Pearl of the Orient" along with Shanghai. In the UK, and much of the commonwealth, it is not considered a pejorative term, with many East Asian people choosing to use it themselves - notably in the names of East Asian businesses such as restaurants and takeaway outlets.
People in the United Kingdom from
American English
The term Oriental may sound dated or even be seen as a pejorative, particularly when used as a noun.[15] John Kuo Wei Tchen, director of the Asian/Pacific/American Studies Program and Institute at New York University, said the basic criticism of the term began in the U.S. during a cultural shift in the 1970s. He has said: "With the U.S.A. anti-war movement in the '60s and early '70s, many Asian Americans identified the term 'Oriental' with a Western process of racializing Asians as forever opposite 'others'",[16] by making a distinction between "Western" and "Eastern" ancestral origins.
This is particularly relevant when referring to lands and peoples not associated with the historic "Orient": outside of the former Byzantine (Eastern Roman) Empire and Sasanian Empire (Persia), including the former
In 2016, President Obama signed New York Congresswoman Grace Meng's legislation H.R. 4238 replacing the word with Asian American in federal law.[17][18]
China
The Chinese word 东方 is translated as "oriental" in the official English names of several entities, e.g. Oriental Art Center, Oriental Movie Metropolis. In other cases, the same word is more literally translated as "eastern", e.g. China Eastern Airlines.
Uruguay
The official name of Uruguay is Oriental Republic of Uruguay, the adjective Oriental refers to the geographic location of the country, east of the Uruguay River.
The term Oriental is also used as Uruguay's demonym, usually with a formal or solemn connotation. The word also has a deep historical meaning as a result of its prolonged use in the region, since the 18th century it was used in reference to the inhabitants of the Banda Oriental, the historical name of the territories that now compose the modern nation of Uruguay.
German
In German, Orient is usually used synonymously with the area between the
The term Asiaten (English: Asians) means Asian people in general. Another word for Orient in German is Morgenland (now mainly poetic), which literally translates as "morning land". The antonym "Abendland" (rarely: "Okzident") is also mainly poetic, and refers to (Western) Europe.[citation needed]
See also
- Orientalizing Periodof Archaic Greek art
Notes
- ^ "Definition of ORIENTAL". www.merriam-webster.com. Retrieved 27 December 2022.
- ISBN 0-9660750-0-5. Retrieved 26 October 2010.
- ISBN 978-0-8091-0582-3.
- ISBN 978-1-135-94873-3.
- ^ ISBN 9780520207431. Retrieved 8 November 2011.
- ^ Tolstoy, Leo (1957). War and Peace. Harmondsworth: Penguin. p. 1034.
- ^ Prescott, William. History of the Conquest of Mexico. New York: Random House Modern Library. p. 21.
- ^ Hooke, Robert. 1666. Drawing of Saturn in Philosophical Transactions (Royal Society publication) Volume 1
- ^ "Senate bill (pdf file)" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 5 March 2009.
- ^ Nosal, K R. American Criticism, New York Standard, New York. 2002
- ^ "Oriental Countries".
- ^ "2021 Census: Ethnic group, England and Wales". Office for National Statistics. 29 November 2022. Retrieved 30 December 2022.
- ^ "2011 Census: KS201UK Ethnic group, local authorities in the United Kingdom, Accessed 19 April 2014".
- ^ orient: definition of orient in Oxford dictionary (British & World English). Oxforddictionaries.com. Retrieved on 12 April 2014.
- ^ "Definition of ORIENTAL". www.merriam-webster.com.
- ^ "Oriental: Rugs or People?". nyu.edu. Archived from the original on 4 September 2012. Retrieved 5 October 2012.
- ^ Weaver, Dustin (20 May 2016). "Obama signs measure striking 'oriental' and 'negro' from federal law". The Hill. Retrieved 20 May 2016.
- ^ "APAs in the News/News Bytes: Legislation to Remove 'Oriental' From Federal Law Passes Senate, Pacific Citizen, May 20 – June 2, 2016, p. 4"
Further reading
- [Ankerl, Guy] Coexisting Contemporary Civilizations: Arabo-Muslim, Bharati, Chinese, and Western (INUPRESS), Geneva, 2000. ISBN 2-88155-004-5
- Bitar, Amer (2020). Bedouin Visual Leadership in the Middle East: The Power of Aesthetics and Practical Implications. ISBN 9783030573973.
External links
- The American Oriental Society Archived 15 June 2015 at the Wayback Machine
- Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures, West Asia & North Africa, formerly the Oriental Institute at University of Chicago
- On Asian and Oriental Model Minorityposting by Alan Hu.
- The Critic in the Orient by George Hamlin Fitch
- German Orient Gate
- What's the Matter with Saying the Orient? by Christopher Hill for "About Japan: A Teacher's Resource"