Many see Russia a wild place, where things are bizarre and the minds of people are inherently different from those of Westerners. This poor understanding and distorted view of Russia has deep roots in Orientalism, a concept introduced by famous Palestinian-American scholar Edward Said. I think Orientalism is one of the key reasons why the West has developed the fundamentally inaccurate view of Russia.
Orientalism is used predominantly by Western intellectuals to pick and choose certain aspects of Eastern cultures and construct the stereotypical perception of all non-Western societies as the one uniform East, or the Orient. Although there is a huge difference among various Eastern cultures, Orientalism overlooks cultural differences, seeing them essentially as one monolithic, never-changing and primitive East.
Professor Said originally described the Middle East and India to be the Orient; however, the term could be expanded and include almost any culture outside of North America and Western Europe.
According to Professor Said, the West constructs the idea of the East. The East is seen from a prejudiced and one-dimensional point of view, which includes the over-exaggeration of differences between the two civilizations and the assumption that the West is inherently superior to the East.
Although Russia is clearly different from the Orient, described by Professor Said, many of his arguments could be effectively applied to explain the Anglo-American perspective on Russia, its culture and people. During the Cold War era, the Russian civilization was seen as part of the East. However, even after the breakup of the Soviet Union not much has changed. Due to its geographical location, unique history, differences in religion and culture, Russia is still seen as a different and not quite “European” nation in the eyes of the West.
Looking at Russia through the lenses of Orientalism, the West exaggerates differences that exist between itself and Russia. Orientalism is a key factor why a lot of Western politicians misunderstand Russian politics, seeing them as bizarre, unpredictable and utterly different from those in the West. The Orientalist narrative depicts Russian politicians as “savages,” incapable of embracing Western values.
In the back of their minds, Western Orientalists still think that Russians, the “barbarians from the East,” want to conquer the Western world, as did the Huns, Mongols and Ottomans before them.
Orientalism served to construct the negative image of Russia on the international level. Many Westerners see Russians as the “Others,” people who are lazy, crazy and incompetent of governing themselves. Western media and the film industry perpetuate certain myths about Russians to the point that these stereotypes have become almost “factual”.
Russia’s “inferiority” is shown through the use of demeaning language. When writing about Russian politics, the Guardian and other Western media used degrading epithets to describe the political circle of the Russian president as “Putin’s clan.” The use of such language preserves the sense of primitivism. Interestingly, while a group of non-kin related Russian statesmen are referred as a “clan,” the father and son Bush presidents were referred to as “The Bush Administrations.”
Looking at Russia through the lens of Orientalism, the West won’t effectively work with Moscow on equal terms. If Western leaders and intellectuals keep falling back on the Orientalist narrative to understand Russia, its culture and people, constantly depicting the country’s politics as “backward” and “irrational,” no good is going to come out of it, just more misunderstandings, assumptions and conflict.
