Hegemony and Orientalism

Hegemony plays a large part in our culture.  It shapes the way we view and think about others outside of our own circumstances.  I have been trapped in my own cultural perspective and have experienced hegemony like others through education.  Growing up, a focus in school is placed on learning about our own history here in the US.  Even when studying about other cultures, we view them through their interactions with our culture and how they affected us.  Now, I am currently enrolled in a global history class but I find that it is still difficult to escape our own cultural perspective.  A focus is still placed on ideas that our culture values.  For example, the idea of forming empires and the rise of civilizations are topics that we place emphasis on.  It would be ideal to not have to deal with hegemony but it has been incorporated into our way of thinking.  We are stuck seeing things from our own perspective and are even educated with this belief that we are superior.  I think it is possible to limit the effects of hegemony but never completely rid yourself of this biased view of other cultures.

                I also acknowledge that orientalism plays a large part in our view of the world.  I feel like I have been guilty of lumping Asian cultures together and seeing them as all being basically the same.  This is clearly not true but our society’s stereotypes lead to this view.  We stereotype Asian cultures and only focus on certain aspects of them.  I am hoping this class will help change my views of these cultures.  I want to broaden my understanding of all these different cultures and discover the differences of each.  I want to see the value and uniqueness in all of them.  I would like to see where these cultures come from, where they are now, and how they got there.  Hopefully, I can look past these stereotypes our society instills in us to increase my knowledge of the world.