Consuming oriental commodities functioned as a symbolic possession of Muslim people

Evidence

Orientalism is a pervasive intellectual movement that became broadly cultural, influencing fashion, advertising, architecture, literature, art, and eventually, film. To preface the following section, it is necessary to understand Orientalism as the source or inspiration for an endless number of commodities. The consumption of these products represents the European and American possession of the Orient and its people. In many cases, the consumption was literal—seen in purchasable commodities—textiles, lighting fixtures, furniture, objets d’art, jewelry, and other products. In other cases, it was metaphorical, such as viewing harem photographs or an Orientalist painting of a nude Muslim female. “Consumer Orientalism” resulted from growing consumerism, along with a desire to possess a token of Otherness. — Sophia Rose Arjana, Muslims in the Western Imagination, 421

Categorization

• SEED: Article angle: consumer orientalism as the commodity form of the manufactured Muslim monster — buying a token of Otherness as a way of owning what one fears.
• XREF: connects to: Syrian merchants profited by supplying America’s Orientalist consumer fantasies — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of…, 226