Discuss some of the recurrent themes in western representations of the non-European 'other'.

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                                                                                                             Harry Fraser

Discuss some of the recurrent themes in western representations of the non-European ‘other’.

This essay intends to discuss some of the typical western views, and in many cases, stereotypes, of the non-western world. The essay will focus on two main areas that have often been subject to great prejudice: the ‘Oriental’ world of the Far East, Near East and South Asia, and the ‘Primitive’ societies of Africa and to a lesser extent Native America.

The essay will open with a short explanation of how certain words can be used to draw these boundaries, before discussing the specific areas, including some of the problems resulting from these stereotypes and misconceptions, also emphasising the influence of colonialism.

We will then draw on some common grounds between these different forms of representation along with common issues and criticisms.

As the essay comes to an end it will propose a question about the possible future of these representations, before attempting to draw a conclusion on what has been discussed.


Rather than going straight into the different criteria by which western society distinguishes itself from the non-western world, it seems a good starting point to mention some of the actual words used to draw a boundary between ‘us’ and ‘them’. The use of the words ‘us’ and ‘them’ are of course examples in themselves. ‘Us’ seems to imply some sense of unity, a base from which any judgements about the less clearly defined ‘them’ can be made. While ‘us’ defines a very specific group of people, ‘them’ describes all those who are not deemed elite to be part of that ‘us’.

By picking apart the title of this essay, we come across three more words used to draw boundaries. It seems surprising that a title consisting of just thirteen words would contain as much as three cultural defining terms (Discuss some of the recurrent themes in western representations of the non-European ‘other’), but this just acts to emphasise the importance that drawing boundaries has to many people.

The italicised terms range from the seemingly concrete term ‘non-European’ (However, the accuracy of this term is debatable. Clearly European views and cultures are mirrored by much of those in North America today; indeed much research on ‘the other’ has come from the USA itself. The obvious response to this is that those people we speak of in the USA are of European origin, but the term does not make this clear), to the extremely abstract ‘other’. This term is purposely abstract, as it helps emphasise the idea of mystery associated with foreign worlds. The term ‘western’ is an interesting one, as in general, it is taken to be a geographical term. However a glance at a globe will make it clear that this is far from the case – there is no true West, and depending from where you are in the world, ‘the West’ could in purely technical terms be India, Africa or France. Instead the term is used just as another way of distinguishing between the ‘us’ and ‘them’ – the West related to power, richness and developed civilisation, the East the opposite.

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Orientalism

To begin this brief discussion of oriental representations, we draw from a very unlikely source – a McDonald’s television advert1, advertising their ‘Taste the Orient’ menu. This particular advert was aired in Germany, and despite being in German, the stereotypes being displayed are still glaringly obvious – the traditional Chinese music being played, along with chanting, a general sense of havoc and disorder, depicted by people rushing around at a train station. Even the font used to display the McDonald’s logo is a typically Chinese one, and of course the food – the whole reason for the advertisement; ...

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