"[A]s much as the West itself, the Orient is an idea that has a history and a tradition of thought, imagery, and vocabulary that have given it reality and presence in and for the West."

It’s been four decades since Orientalism was published. In his groundbreaking study Edward Said reveals how in colonial times the Western world shaped a one-sided view of ‘the East’. Full of clichés and racial stereotypes, it saw Eastern societies as primitive, inferior, and in desperate need of control. Islamic Studies scholar Dr Joas Wagemakers (UU) discusses how Orientalism caused a fierce polemic that continues to this day. Does the Orientalist mindset still exist? Can Said’s book help us understand how Muslims are being treated by Western countries today?