Orientalist representation is purposive deformation, not mere misrepresentation

Evidence

These and other scholars have demonstrated that there is indeed a historical legacy of Orientalist depictions of Muslim women focusing on their need for liberation from their cultures and their religion. However, these and other studies also show that the development and application of Orientalist tropes were not the same in all times and places but rather emerged and were produced in specific circumstances and for specific times. Thus, both how particular discourses on Muslim women are produced, by whom, and to what end should not be assumed to be the same. There are patterns of the production and application of knowledge but they are not patterns of sameness. Rather, a repertoire of tropes developed over several centuries in both Europe and North America is at the disposal of those producing contemporary Islamophobic discourses. — Carl W. Ernst, Islamophobia in America_ The Anatomy of…, 507 (#complicates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Orientalist cultural borrowing mixed admiration with denigration, not pure contempt; Said treated Orientalist discourse as false representation, not as performative enactment; Orientalism is studied via its internal consistency, not its correspondence to a real Orient (+14 more)

Broader Connections

• Orientalist representations operate for purposes within specific historical and economic settings #expands (0.92)
• Orientalist tropes form a reusable repertoire rather than a uniform discourse #complicates (0.72) — Carl W. Ernst, Islamophobia in America_ The Anatomy of…, 507