The late academic, Edward Said,

developed the term orientalism

to describe how Europeans portray the orient

as inferior, uncivilised and all around weird.

But importantly, Said argued this was also, simultaneously,

about defining Europe as the orient's opposite -

superior, civilised and all around wonderful.

The actual term 'the orient' refers to the rising of the sun in the east

and comes from the Latin word 'oriens'.

So we can think of orientalism as Eastern-ism

or stereotyping of the East.

Orientalism then, is the form of knowledge, in quotation marks,

that authorises and justifies the assertion of Western power

over the East.

But what does this actually mean?

Orientalism acts like a pair of glasses that distort your vision

and exaggerate cultural and religious differences.

With these glasses,

just about everything and everyone seems highly exotic and strange

or worse, fanatical and dangerous.

Women in the Middle East, for example,

appear only as exotic - a belly dancer -

or oppressed - a 'veiled woman' -

with no nuances in between.

And in the early 20th Century,

you might have seen men portrayed as exotically romantic

or more recently as crazy and fanatical, a terrorist,

and miss all the ordinary human beings along the way.

Many Arabs, Muslims and Asians embrace this controversial term

to describe the unique kind of racism they experience.

Orientalism encapsulates, for many,

how their culture, religion and ethnicity

are so often reduced to a stereotype,

causing their humanity to be overlooked and culture misunderstood.

Isn't this just a form of stereotyping then?

Well, yes and no.

Orientalism is about a much broader set of power relations.

When the US government views the Middle East

through orientalist glasses

it creates policies with far-reaching consequences.

From outright war waged on other countries

to imposing a travel ban on whole groups of people.

Perhaps the trickiest thing about orientalism

is that it's not fuelled by ignorance or a simple lack of knowledge,

just the opposite.

It has historically been produced as knowledge

by those in positions of power,

whether government officials, religious figures, or the media.

For example when President Trump stated,

"I think Islam hates us,

we can't allow people coming into this country

who have this hated for the United States."

He effectively characterised the 1.6 billion Muslims worldwide

as anti-American.

Even today,

orientalism continues because it is so ingrained

in how we see other peoples and cultures that it goes unnoticed.

Even the term, 'The Middle East' is considered to be orientalist,

because it standardises a Western viewpoint

by referring to West Asia and North Africa as the middle of the East.

Much of what counts as knowledge about the Middle East

and parts of Asia

is still produced through those distorting and reductive glasses.

And just like in the 18th and 19th Centuries,

orientalism remains powerful because it shapes,

not just how people in the West view the East,

but also how they view themselves.

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