Oriëntalisme & de Arabische Lente

Violent, sexist, irrational and terroristic. Islam and the Arabian culture are traditionally seen as in essence Others than the peace-loving, liberal, rational and civilised West. This phenomenon is called Orientalism: the Western way of describing the Other as negative opposite (Said, 1978). The Arab Spring came unexpectedly for many. First hundreds, then thousands and ultimately millions of Arab citizens raised their voice to put corruption and suppression to an end. In Tunis, Egypt, Yemen and Libya, dictators where expelled from their position. Every camera lens in the world was directed at the Middle East. This raises the question what the revolutions do with the essentialist, negative and stereotyped image the West has on the East. The main question is therefore: how does the image formed by the New York Times, The Guardian and het NRC Handelsblad about the Arab Spring, relate to (neo)orientalism and what other images are being formed about the Arab Spring in these newspapers. Through framing analysis and the theory of Said (1978, 2007), Poole (2002) and Kumar (2010), it becomes clear that the secular, peaceful and democratic civilians are new actors in the orientalist narrative. The uprisings resulted in a new voice from the Middle East and broadens the perspective. This led to a more neutral and positive image of the ‘Arab world’ as we Westerners understand. The division between Us and Them becomes more faint. Above that, explicit critical statements about the Western ways of understanding the Middle East are made.