The said and not-said: new grammar of visual imperialism

Since the European colonization of the East, stereotypical depictions of their perceived Orient as exotically backward and Muslim women as submissive and lecherous have been appearing as major themes in Western visual discourses. These representations, manifested to justify Western presence in th...

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Main Authors:	Esmaeil Zeiny, Noraini Md Yusof
Format:	Article
Language:	English
Published:	Penerbit Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia 2016
Online Access:	http://journalarticle.ukm.my/10140/ http://journalarticle.ukm.my/10140/ http://journalarticle.ukm.my/10140/1/9297-33384-1-PB.pdf

id	ukm-10140
recordtype	eprints
spelling	ukm-101402017-02-23T03:53:10Z http://journalarticle.ukm.my/10140/ The said and not-said: new grammar of visual imperialism Esmaeil Zeiny, Noraini Md Yusof, Since the European colonization of the East, stereotypical depictions of their perceived Orient as exotically backward and Muslim women as submissive and lecherous have been appearing as major themes in Western visual discourses. These representations, manifested to justify Western presence in the East, pervade even after the tragic events of 9/11. The West, especially the United States, now has to exercise new strategies to justify their imperial ‘war on terror’ project. The post-9/11 Western mass media and visual discourses are still fraught with stereotypes that consolidate stereotypical representations. Thus, by deconstructing the layers of Western misrepresentations of the Orient and studying the history of visual imperialism, this paper investigates, in the course of post-9/11 contexts, the grammar of visual imperialism in representing the East and Muslims have both negative and positive depictions. However we reveal that even the positive depictions would eventually consolidate the orientalist stereotypes and legitimize racist policies and practices. By drawing on Whitlock’s concept of ‘soft weapon’, we argue that using Muslim women to relate their own stories of oppression and victimhood through memoirs is another new strategy to confirm the pre-existing notions of the East. These Muslim life narratives become soft weapons when they elicit sympathy from Western readers. Therefore, while the rule in the representation of Muslims after 9/11 has changed through the use of different strategies to apparently dispel the stereotypes, they ultimately reinforce the preexisting notions about the East and Muslims. Penerbit Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia 2016-02 Article PeerReviewed application/pdf en http://journalarticle.ukm.my/10140/1/9297-33384-1-PB.pdf Esmaeil Zeiny, and Noraini Md Yusof, (2016) The said and not-said: new grammar of visual imperialism. GEMA: Online Journal of Language Studies, 16 (1). pp. 125-141. ISSN 1675-8021 http://ejournal.ukm.my/gema/issue/view/750
repository_type	Digital Repository
institution_category	Local University
institution	Universiti Kebangasaan Malaysia
building	UKM Institutional Repository
collection	Online Access
language	English
description	Since the European colonization of the East, stereotypical depictions of their perceived Orient as exotically backward and Muslim women as submissive and lecherous have been appearing as major themes in Western visual discourses. These representations, manifested to justify Western presence in the East, pervade even after the tragic events of 9/11. The West, especially the United States, now has to exercise new strategies to justify their imperial ‘war on terror’ project. The post-9/11 Western mass media and visual discourses are still fraught with stereotypes that consolidate stereotypical representations. Thus, by deconstructing the layers of Western misrepresentations of the Orient and studying the history of visual imperialism, this paper investigates, in the course of post-9/11 contexts, the grammar of visual imperialism in representing the East and Muslims have both negative and positive depictions. However we reveal that even the positive depictions would eventually consolidate the orientalist stereotypes and legitimize racist policies and practices. By drawing on Whitlock’s concept of ‘soft weapon’, we argue that using Muslim women to relate their own stories of oppression and victimhood through memoirs is another new strategy to confirm the pre-existing notions of the East. These Muslim life narratives become soft weapons when they elicit sympathy from Western readers. Therefore, while the rule in the representation of Muslims after 9/11 has changed through the use of different strategies to apparently dispel the stereotypes, they ultimately reinforce the preexisting notions about the East and Muslims.
format	Article
author	Esmaeil Zeiny, Noraini Md Yusof,
spellingShingle	Esmaeil Zeiny, Noraini Md Yusof, The said and not-said: new grammar of visual imperialism
author_facet	Esmaeil Zeiny, Noraini Md Yusof,
author_sort	Esmaeil Zeiny,
title	The said and not-said: new grammar of visual imperialism
title_short	The said and not-said: new grammar of visual imperialism
title_full	The said and not-said: new grammar of visual imperialism
title_fullStr	The said and not-said: new grammar of visual imperialism
title_full_unstemmed	The said and not-said: new grammar of visual imperialism
title_sort	said and not-said: new grammar of visual imperialism
publisher	Penerbit Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia
publishDate	2016
url	http://journalarticle.ukm.my/10140/ http://journalarticle.ukm.my/10140/ http://journalarticle.ukm.my/10140/1/9297-33384-1-PB.pdf
first_indexed	2023-09-18T19:56:39Z
last_indexed	2023-09-18T19:56:39Z
_version_	1777406574208221184

The said and not-said: new grammar of visual imperialism

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