Group 3 (1001 Nights 2): Adir Elmakeiss

Adir Elmakiess

One Thousand and One Nights and Edward Said’s Orientalism:

      Have you ever wondered how your life would have been if you were born in a non-western country? Do you consider the western set of rules, including democracy, as the ideal ones? Unfortunately, many people who reside in the Western hemisphere tends to reject lifestyles that are not aligned with the western views. One of the reasons that our world is divided to two, the Western one and the Eastern one, is because that people truly believe that their lifestyle is simply better than others. Many conflicts, even wars, took place as a result of this simple but very elaborated concept. In this piece, I will deal with the question of: Does the western world really want to understand the eastern one? Or the preconceived notion about the east governs any educational transition. I will use the concept of Orientalism that is broadly discussed by Edward Said and few stories from One Thousand and One Nights hoping to spread light on the issues involved in both sides.

By nature, humans form opinions about specific subject matters by simplifying complex issues and molding them to their preconceived notions. It is understandable. We can’t be experts in every topic out there, but we, definitely, know how to pick up the general idea behind it, and, recklessly, form opinions that are not necessarily accurate. Edward Said calls this concept: “Orientalism”. According to him: “Orientalism is an entrenched structure of thought, a pattern of making certain generalizations about the part of the world known as the ‘East’”.  By far, orientalism is a form of western supremacy over the east, and without attacking this problem, assimilation of both sides seems to be far away.

Arabian Literature, for example, is constantly being modified to fit Western readers. Many translations of One Thousand and One Nights are missing details that depict the Arab culture. For Example, in the story of The First Calendar, it is evident that the story has been westernized from Burton’s to Lang’s translation. Details depicting the traditional outfit of Muslim females were discarded as well as the name of the god of Islam: Allah. Another example from the “Story of King Shahryar and Shahrazad”, Burton’s translation preserves the Muslim religion, including Arabian prayers and even words in Arabic, while Scott’s translation introduces us to a secular progressive mindset. Edward Said, in his famous book: “Orientalism”, that Orientalism was established by “a very large mass of writers, among whom are poets, novelists, philosophers, political theorists, economists, and imperial administrators, (who) have accepted the basic distinction between East and West as the starting point for elaborate theories, epics, novels, social descriptions and political accounts concerning the Orient, its people, customs, “mind,” (and) destiny” (“Orientalist” page 10).  The translation of One Thousand and One Nights shows us only a glimpse of the overall picture. The trend at that time, and even today, was to civil the uncivil; even if it means to discard crucial details from stories that shaped the history of the Arab world.

The separation between the East and the West appears to be engraved in history and the present status-quo is, unfortunately, far from changing. According to Said, the problem is not in the oriental. (Myth and Misinformation). In the past two decades, especially after the 9/11 attack Said claims, we have handed the job of interpreting the Eastern world to “experts” who have little knowledge of the complicated situation in those countries. So, does the western world really want to understand the eastern one? Not sure, but one thing is clear: we don’t do enough to understand the East. Said emphasize that “We need to concentrate on the slow working together of cultures that overlap, borrow from each other, and live together”; that way, we will be able to empower our knowledge, prevent wars and increase our exposure to other cultures and people.

Many factors prevent us from opening our eyes towards the East, but in my view, the main ones are preconceived notions, subjective media vehicles and pride. Despite the fact that we live in a world that does not act for assimilation towards the “orient”, individually, we have the power to be critical regarding information that we consume. We must not hurry to generalize people. Also, we must see individuals as individuals; having those guidelines in mind, I guarantee that you will find people from other cultures more similar to you than you would originally have thought.