Romantic environmental determinism denied Arabs the noble savage trope given to Polynesians
Evidence
The fantasies generated about South Pacific islands situated in Romantic ideals like the uncorrupted man—the noble savage—emerged out of environmental determinism. In colonial accounts of Otahiete (Tahiti), beautiful men and women frolic in turquoise lagoons, greet foreigners with garlands of flowers, and have large sex orgies in public. The desire for Tahitian women resulted in the growing value of nails from European ships as an important commodity traded for sexual favors. In contrast to the numerous depictions of Polynesians as perfect, unspoiled humans, Arabs were seldom represented as noble savages. — Sophia Rose Arjana, Muslims in the Western Imagination, 374
Categorization
Category: Factual Claims
- XREF: The Polynesian-vs-Arab asymmetry in the noble savage trope connects to Said’s orientalism and to the broader argument that Muslims were denied even idealizing Romantic projection.
Related
- Arabs were denied the noble-savage innocence granted to Pacific islanders (similarity 0.95)
- Arabs were seldom cast as noble savages unlike Polynesians (similarity 0.92)
- Romantic Orientalism’s rare positive Arab portrayals were overwhelmed by negative depictions (similarity 0.84)
- Romantic Orientalism shaped how Muslims were imagined even in positive portrayals (similarity 0.81)
- South Pacific and Muslim fantasy women functioned as identical objects of desire (similarity 0.80)