BharatNotes Orientalism
nounUsage in a UPSC answer
Critics of colonial historiography argue that much nineteenth-century administration in India rested on an Orientalism that cast Indian society as static and despotic, thereby legitimising paternalistic rule and obscuring its own indigenous traditions of self-governance.
Synonyms
Antonyms
Word Family
orient (n./v.), oriental (adj.), orientalist (n.), orientalise (v.), orientalism (n.), orientation (n.)
Root
Latin oriens = rising sun, east; orientālis = eastern + -ism; critiqued by Edward Said (1978)
Etymology
From "oriental" (Latin orientālis, "eastern," from oriens, "rising sun") + -ism; first used in the sense of Eastern cultural style in 1769; later critiqued as a system of Western dominance by Edward Said in his 1978 book Orientalism.
Memory Hook
"Orient" (the East) + "-ism" — the West's way of framing the East. Picture a Western painter rendering an imagined, exotic "Orient" from his own biased viewpoint rather than reality.
How This Word Works in UPSC Writing
A word carrying two distinct meanings that must be kept apart, since conflating them is the commonest error on this topic. In the colonial education debate, Orientalists were those who held that Indian learning in Sanskrit, Persian and Arabic should form the basis of state-supported education, opposed by the Anglicists who argued for English and Western knowledge, and the contest was settled by Macaulay's Minute of 1835 and Bentinck's resolution in favour of English, later consolidated by Wood's Despatch of 1854. In the second sense, following Edward Said's book of 1978, Orientalism names the body of Western scholarship about the East that constructed it as static, despotic and irrational, and thereby furnished a justification for rule, since a society represented as incapable of governing itself invites governance. The two senses can even point in opposite directions, because the colonial Orientalists valued Indian learning while, on Said's account, the framework within which they valued it still served domination.
Don’t Confuse It With
Orientalism in the colonial education debate names the school favouring instruction in Indian classical languages, opposed by the Anglicists who favoured English, the dispute being settled by Macaulay's Minute of 1835. Orientalism in Said's sense is a critique of Western representations of the East as a discourse serving domination. Occidentalism is the reverse construction of the West. The two senses are not merely different but can conflict, since the colonial Orientalists were sympathetic to Indian learning yet fall within Said's critique.
Hindi Meaning
प्राच्यवाद (prāchyavād); आंग्लवादी (ānglavādī) for the Anglicists.
Common Questions
- What was the Orientalist-Anglicist controversy?
- A dispute over whether state education in India should be based on Indian classical languages or on English and Western knowledge, settled in favour of English by Macaulay's Minute of 1835.
- What did Edward Said mean by Orientalism?
- The body of Western scholarship that represented the East as static, despotic and irrational, which served to justify colonial rule by portraying such societies as incapable of governing themselves.
Tip: press Alt+S to hear pronunciation
