What Is Anthropology - Primitivism and Orientalism

What Is Anthropology? ANTH 2301 Primitivism and Orientalism The obfuscating prism of primitivism has affected perceptions of African Americans and Native Americans since the eighteenth century. Europeans, who considered themselves to be intelligent and civilised, began to characterise Africans as ignorant savages who were culturally and intellectually primitive. Africa was referred to as "the dark continent" by 19thcentury explorers like Henry M. Stanley, who saw it as a land of immorality and lawlessness (Stanley 1878). In a similar vein, missionaries from Europe believed that Africans were only ignorant pagan people who needed to be saved from Christianity. Primitivism, as it is expressed in the works of traders and explorers, presents Africans and Native Americans as exotic, primitive, extremely sexual, possibly aggressive, and more in tune with the natural world. Europeans frequently saw African and Native American communities of that era as chaotic and violent, despite the fact that both were quite regimented and organised. A different interpretation of primitivism presents Native Americans and Africans as pure, uncomplicated, peaceful communities coexisting with the natural world as "noble savages." The "noble savage" interpretation of primitivism, albeit less obviously offensive, perpetuates the racist stereotype that non-Western peoples are stupid, archaic, and alone. Orientalism is the term for the somewhat different form of ethnocentrism that Europeans adopted towards people from Asia and the Middle East. Literary critic Edward Said (1979) described orientalism as the idea that individuals from Asia and the Middle East are crazy, illogical, and uncontrollable. East Asian and Middle Eastern "oriental" civilizations are portrayed as seductive and ethereal. Here, the focus is more on sensuous and emotional excess than on biology and nature. People see Middle Eastern societies as despotic rather than lawless. Men and women's relationships are seen as exploitative and oppressive in addition to being sexual. According to Said, the purpose of this portrayal of Asian and Middle Eastern countries is to contrast them with the reason, morality, and democracy of European nations. Said criticises orientalism by pointing out how frequently Muslims and Middle Easterners are portrayed as aggressive and illogical in popular American cinema. Aladdin hails from "a faraway place / where the caravan camels roam / where they cut off your ear if they don't like your face / it's barbaric, but hey, it's home," according to the theme song, which opens the 1992 Disney picture Aladdin. Disney was compelled to alter the songs for the movie's home video release after receiving backlash from anti-discrimination organisations (Nittle 2021). Many thrillers, like the Arnold Schwarzenegger-starring True Lies from 1994, depict Arabs as hateful monsters who seek to set explosives and kidnap hostages. Arab women are often shown as mute, repressed victims wrapped in veils or as sexualized belly dancers. These representational styles replicate and borrow from orientalist tropes. Orientalism and primitivism were both created during the European colonisation of different regions of the world. The forcible relocation and enslavement of Native Americans were justified by primitive ideologies. The subsequent segment will delve into the ways that contemporary iterations of primitivism and orientalism continue to endure in American society, tracking the detrimental consequences of these distortions and the endeavours of anthropologists to demolish them.