Both the Orient and the West are constructed fictions, not stable realities

Evidence

I emphasize in it accordingly that neither the term Orient nor the concept of the West has any ontological stability; each is made up of human effort, partly affirmation, partly identification of the Other. That these supreme fictions lend themselves easily to manipulation and the organization of collective passion has never been more evident than in our time, when the mobilizations of fear, hatred, disgust, and resurgent self-pride and arrogance—much of it having to do with Islam and the Arabs on one side, “we” Westerners on the other—are very large-scale enterprises. — Edward W. Said, Orientalism, 29

Categorization

• DEFINE: Core definition of the Orientalism thesis: Orient and West as constructed supreme fictions lacking ontological stability, made through human effort.
• XREF: Connects directly to later Islamophobia readings on the constructed ‘Other’ and to the reader’s Notes from Nowhere-style critical vocabulary; also resonates with Benedict Anderson’s imagined communities.
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Edward W. Said, Orientalism, 29