The Oriental category predicted all behavior from a fixed Semitic essence

Evidence

The Oriental, whether Jew or Muslim, develops as a “transtemporal, transindividual category, purporting to predict every discrete ‘act’ of ‘Semitic’ behavior on the basis of some pre-existing ‘Semitic’ essence, and aiming to interpret all aspects of human life and activity in terms of some ‘Semitic’ element.” In the literature, Oriental Semites are often described as relics of the past, a type that lived “outside history.” Muslims and Jews were commonly compared to each other, “nomadic Arabs, conveniently enough… remained trapped in the state of childhood [seen as] characteristic of the ancient Israelites.” — Sophia Rose Arjana, Muslims in the Western Imagination, 403

Categorization

• DEFINE: This is a precise definition of the Oriental/Semite as a transtemporal, transindividual essence — the analytical category the reader needs for their monster framework.
• BMF: The image of a people frozen ‘outside history’ and in a state of childhood evokes the creature/people device in A Very Minor Prophet — figures trapped in a predetermined essence denied developmental time.