Why The Stereotypes?

From Our Blog

"Orientalism involves a way of seeing the other (the Arab) that justifies an ongoing system of domination. Edward Said’s landmark analysis of the problem, Orientalism (1978), is now forty years old, and yet the phenomenon it describes feels as entrenched and normalized as it was when he wrote it."

Dr. Jack Shaheen Established an Entire Field of Study 1935-2017

Written by Professor Evelyn Alsultany My personal experience with Dr. Shaheen is a testament to his generosity and kindness as a scholar and mentor as well as his accomplishments and legacy for the field of Arab American Media Studies. This narrative itself emerges from a moment during one of two interviews I was fortunate enough to conduct with Dr. Shaheen, once via Skype at an Arab American Civil Rights conference in Dearborn, Michigan, organized by the National Network of Arab American Communities in 2015, and once at the University of Michigan in 2016.

Representing the Other as Animals

Animalization represents the Other as wild beasts in their lifestyle, dress, and sexuality. This theme opens a space to demonstrate how stereotypes often manifest through representing the Other as animals. Examples include the cartoon Ali Baba: Mad Dog of the Desert and representations of African Americans and Native Americans as monkeys or savage beasts.

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Bullets, c. 1900. The use of the Native American Indian image along with the name of the bullets, “Savage” directly imply that Native Americans are beasts. Image from Authentic History Center http://www.authentichistory.com

Speedy Gonzales thimble. Stoke-on-Trent, England Fine Bone China. Speedy Gonzales is a well known Warner Brothers character from the 1960s and 70s which grossly portrays Latinos as rodents, thieves, lazy and uneducated. Image from Authentic History Center http://www.authentichistory.com

Lustige Blätter, humor and satire magazine published in Germany, 1941-1942, depicting Jewish cartoon character consuming a Russian, American, and English characters. Suffolk Center of the Holocaust, Diversity, and Human Understanding.

Our Enemy illustration from the 1942 paperback book by James R. Young. Courtesy of the Wing Luke Museum, Seattle, WA.

The Chinese: Many Handed But Soulless cover from The Wasp: v. 15, July - Dec. 1885. Publisher: Wasp Publishing Company. Library of Congress.

The Hotspur magazine cover from March 16, 1940, published in the United Kingdom. Courtesy of the Wing Luke Museum, Seattle, WA.