Orientalist

A figure within the framework of Orientalism (as theorized by Edward Said) — the Western scholar, writer, or intellectual who studies, represents, and typically asserts interpretive authority over “the Orient,” often projecting a romanticized, classical past onto it while keeping its modern reality remote. The Orientalist is characterized as performing a secularized form of priestly moral authority and confirming rather than revising Western preconceptions.

Claims that use this term

• The Orientalist confirms rather than revises the reader’s existing views
• The Orientalist judged the modern Orient by rescuing its classical past.
• The Orientalist cast himself as a heroic rescuer of a lost Orient
• The Orientalist scholar performs a secularized version of the priestly moral authority
• The Orientalist–Orient relation is hermeneutical yet keeps the Orient permanently remote.
• The Orientalist expert becomes the representative Oriental himself