orientalism
/ˌɔriˈɛntəlɪzəm/
noun
- A style of art, literature, or scholarship that represents Asian cultures in a stereotyped, exotic, or romanticized way, often from a Western perspective.
- The museum's exhibit on orientalism showed how 19th-century European painters imagined the Middle East.
- The book explores how orientalism shaped Western views of India and China for centuries.
- Many modern critics argue that orientalism in literature helped justify colonial rule.
Synonyms