1 Analyzing Western Perceptions

There are few things less understood in the Western mind than Eastern culture. It is a world that many have seen as exotic; this singular, almost mythical location of “the Orient” was painted by Europeans with little knowledge of the culture and the people who lived within its borders. The rise of Orientalism in art and literature in the 18th century showcased how widespread this fascination truly was. Many of these depictions focus on grand golden palaces,  foreign religions, and perhaps most notably: veiled and therefore mysterious female beauty. Yet, the subject of this art often had very little to do with the high culture of the regions they emulated. Inside the gilded frames of foreign artwork lied a pervasive mythos: that the residents of these distant lands were as barbaric as they were alien.

What was neglected instead was the lived reality of the East.  The Islamic Golden Age, for example, was a period of vast scientific expansion and literary development. This period was ushered in from the nature of Islam itself; the hadiths of the Prophet and of the instructions of the Quran drew Mohammedans toward the pursuit of education and higher knowledge.

The word “harem” in the Western world often conjures up the idea of veiled women locked deep inside a palace, waiting patiently for a wealthy sultan. Often, they are fair-skinned and scantily-clad, fawning over a bejeweled young noble.  It was a source of constant fascination by European outsiders who marveled at the stratified society and the strange world outside their anglicized sphere. The problem with these ideas is that these historical ideas have been proposed by predominantly white Christian men, who, by the nature of the harem, would have never set an eye on one.