Professor Nadine Naber discusses how Orientalism operates during the current War on Terror. Produced for the Arab American National Museum's online exhibit, Reclaiming Identity: Dismantling Arab Stereotypes.
Edward Said discusses the concept of Orientalism as a tool for colonization.
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Ched Myers writes in his article A House for All Peoples, "All social groups establish boundaries—whether physical impediments, such as fences or borders, or symbolic and cultural lines, such as language or dietary laws. Such boundaries can be a good thing, especially when they help protect weaker people from domination by stronger people. More often, however, boundaries function in the opposite manner: to shore up the privileges of the strong against the needs of the weak."
Othering is a process of boundary setting which ultimately defines ones own self or group as superior and the "Others" as inferior. Othering is a means for dominant groups to rationalize the subjugation of the other. For instance, by portraying Native Americans as dangerous savages European settlers in the U.S. found justification for killing them and taking their land. By portraying African Americans as an inferior race, white people created a rationale to justify slavery and later segregation during the Jim Crow era. Similarly, Orientalism, (a particular kind of othering) provides the U.S.American empire with the necessary logic to initiate and maintain its aggression in the Middle East which is foundational to its own position as a global super power. One of the greatest impediments to practicing a social gospel is the disempowerment that is born from Christians' tendency to see non-Christians as others, unworthies, unclean, or enemies. The health of our church body politic depends upon our embrace of "outsiders." It is essential that we fight the mindset that leads us to establish these boundaries of inclusion and exclusion and work toward an all embracing politic of solidarity (especially with those on the margins of society). As Jesus' healing ministry was characterized by physically touching those who were considered "unclean," and thus making himself unclean in the eyes of society before healing took place (it is arguable that Jesus' healing ministry points to a healing of forms of alienation which are born from societal boundaries of inclusion and exclusion), so too must we push into areas of discomfort and embrace the other if we are to see Jesus' healing ministry continue in our midst. |