Orientalism rests on a fixed distinction between Western superiority and Oriental inferiority

Evidence

Said says that “the essence of Orientalism is the ineradicable distinction between Western superiority and Oriental inferiority” (Said 1985, 42). How was this strong marking of difference constructed? — Stuart Hall, Essential Essays, Volume 2, 620

Categorization

• DEFINE: This is the central definitional anchor of Said’s Orientalism that frames the whole chapter’s mechanism of difference-construction.
• QUESTION: The passage itself poses the question of HOW this difference is constructed — the mechanism the rest of the chapter unpacks.