In my past GHS course, “Women’s Rights and Resistance” my professor, Dr. Jorgensen introduced the concept of Orientalism to the class. The concept covers the fact that the Middle East has been stereotyped into one ideal or world view. When meeting someone for the first time, many have the tendency to stereotype a new face’s personal character based on their race, style, or identity. Stereotyping is the main cause for immediate negative judgement, ruining a special relationship before it has even started. I believe this same concept corresponds with Orientalism, a characterization of Asia in its entirety. Seen through multiple platforms, Orientalism has formed Asia negatively, creating a false outlook. Similarly to meeting a new person, I will remove all constructs about Middle East, before embarking on our GHS reading. Through my old GHS course, I have been introduced to the concept of a “single story”. The concept, correlating directly to Orientalism, means stereotyping one cultural ideals into a singular representation. While reading many stories about the Middle East in my old course, my professor had advised us to remember that the one story we are reading does not define an entire region. Through the class, I have learned to stay unbiased about specific cultural regions as a “single story” must not be built about any culture. As I have started our first readings (from Ha Jin) I have stayed neutral as I have kept these concepts in mind so Orientalism ideals stayed removed.
“Chinatown” in Chicago has been a memorable destination for me as I visited multiple times throughout my childhood. Through many visits, I always believed that all of China was identical to “Chinatown”. Falling into these assumptions as a young child, I have been able to take a step back now, as I have matured and understood a broader vision of China. I am excited to continue the readings and class discussions in this course as they will allow me to have an even broader view of the region.