Romanticism projected an exotic Orientalist fantasy rather than accurate knowledge
Evidence
The trend toward the exotic was fueled by the growth of Romanticism, an artistic and philosophical movement of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The image of an exotic Orient associated with “sensuality, promise, terror, sublimity, idyllic pleasure, [and] intense energy” can be found in the works of musicians, painters, novelists, and philosophers from Mozart to Byron, Hugo, and Goethe. To be fair, the Romantics did not only look to the East for the exotic: they also looked to their own past, drawing from Gothic tales and stories of European barbarians. — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 89
Categorization
- XREF: Anticipates Said’s Orientalism which Kumar flags as the body of ideas justifying conquest in the next chapter. — connects to: Egyptians held romantic fantasies about southern territories they barely administered; Nineteenth-century Orientalism traded Enlightenment universalism for a hierarchy of civilizations. — Green, Todd H, The Fear of Islam_ An Introduction to…, 193; Said held that Orientalism cannot be corrected by factual research because it is power. — Green, Todd H, The Fear of Islam_ An Introduction to…, 205 (+35 more)
Broader Connections
- Romantic revolt glorified will over intellect and allied with nationalism
#exemplifies(0.70) — Bertrand Russell, History of Western Philosophy, 2637 - Orientalist Muslim dehumanization legitimizes colonial and imperial adventures
#expands(0.60) — Sophia Rose Arjana, Muslims in the Western Imagination, 44 - Even anti-imperialist Mark Twain reproduced Orientalist stereotypes of Muslims.
#exemplifies(0.60) — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 136 - Orientalist scholarship varied internally but shared the racial category
#qualifies(0.50) — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 132 - Postwar Muslim-majority nations embraced secular nationalism, contra Orientalist claims
#corroborates(0.40) — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 310 - The government sponsored Orientalist conferences to weaponize religion
#expands(0.40) — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 226 - CFR realists rejected the Orientalist claim that Islam blocks communism
#contradicts(0.40) — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 408