Objective representation of the Orient required erasing the European observer from the picture

Evidence

The use of “East” and “West” to identify geographical areas is confusing and ethnocentric. “North” and “south” have universally accepted fixed reference points in the poles. “East” and “west” have no such reference points. The question is: east and west of what? It all depends on where you stand. “West” and “East” presumably originally referred to the western and eastern parts of Eurasia. From an American viewpoint, however, the Far East is actually the Far West. For most of Chinese history the West meant India, whereas “In Japan ‘the West’ usually meant China.” — Samuel P. Huntington, The Clash of Civilizations and the…, 1351 (#complicates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Representation substitutes for the Orient because it cannot represent itself; Europeans read the Orient as a picture because they took representation to be universal — Timothy Mitchell, Colonising Egypt, 105; European representation of the Orient outweighs actual Oriental lived experience (+6 more)

Broader Connections

• East and West are unstable geographic labels relative to the observer #complicates (0.74) — Samuel P. Huntington, The Clash of Civilizations and the…, 1351