Posted on Tuesday, August 8, 2006 - 3:24 pm:

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In the 21st century, the term "Oriental" is considered by some people, primarily in the United States, to be derogatory, largely because of its connection to imperial 19th century Europeans and Americans who are thought to have held a patronising attitude towards the region. Many of these people saw the East as backwards, while the West was seen as logical, rational and more modern. Furthermore, it is claimed that some courses in "Oriental studies" were riddled with inaccurate information that was used to justify colonization of these countries. Some Asian Americans see parallels between the word "oriental" and "n*gg*r", though many see it as simply old-fashioned and functionless, as many African Americans see the word "Negro". The main criticism of the term is that it is overly vague, referring to a category of peoples with widely divergent cultural and ethnic backgrounds and no clear division between which groups belong to the term and which do not. In the USA, the location where most of the objections to usage of "oriental" occur when describing people, the term is often replaced with "Asian". In fact, in Washington state it is illegal to use the word in legislation and government documents.

Major objections to the use of the word "Oriental" are chiefly limited to certain elements in North America. Its use is much less controversial in Europe and Hawaii, as well as in Asia where, especially in Southeast Asian countries, the word is in comparatively widespread usage. In Europe the term is used to describe such things as the East's cuisine and goods, ancient culture, and religions, at times to denote an exotic quality with upmarket or mildly positive connotations.

Some consider the term "oriental" to be an example of Eurocentrism, since they see it is as a term used to describe people and regions that are to the East only in relation to Western Europe. However, traditionally, Western Europe has considered itself to be the West (of the Eurasian landmass), while the areas around Israel, Turkey, Greece and Egypt, have been considered to be near the center, hence the terms "Middle East" and "Mid-East", with the Near East being the Balkans and Aegean. The terms "Middle Eastern" and "Westerner" follow the same pattern as "oriental", yet are subject to less controversy, though "West Asia" is, in some instances, becoming a common term for the Middle East, although including Iran and Afghanistan as well as Mesopotamia and the Levant.

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