Hacker News Books

Good list! You should add Orientalism by Said and Open Society and Its Enemies by Popper - both classics!

It should be noted as well that the concept of the "Eastern" is also Western in origin.

A good read about this is Orientalism by Edward Said.

I enjoyed Orientalism. My problem with so many of these works, however, is that they seem to take such an intentional stance. Like the assertion that the language of Orientalism serves to create an other in order to. . .

Like, wait right there.

One of the most valuable insights from scholarship like this is that we are all trapped in power structures. The "othering" that happens isn't the result of some demonic intention, it's just what people do. While Said takes great pains to make this point, most readers of the book that I've interacted with do not seem to grasp it. When I finished Orientalism I kind of chuckled because in many ways he engaged in the process that he was describing, "Occidentalizing" western area studies, as it were. I know it's not, but at some level I kind of hoped the book was a big meta-joke to illustrate the inescapability of the dynamic.

I think he points it out in the article how it is mainly foreigners that are both leading the work, and are interested in Egyptology.

I don't know if you have read Edward Said work, Orientalism, but this explains the article. What interests the readers of HN, and the Guardian is the romanticized past rather than the reality of now. But Peter Hessler in a way brings this up.

Is Orientalism that bad ? If it gets people interested in a geographic region. We have many more conflicts which are just ignored like West Papa, or even Sudan now.

No problem. India is a shit country and if it were possible for me to give up my citizenship I would have done it without second thought. I have no issues with people pointing out problems, but problems of India are not reported in news unless they happen to be about cultural differences. [2] is not an argument, it is just to give you a direction if you want to find out real structural problems in all colonized countries and the sheer depth of it all. Read it at your own leisure. Orientalism by E. Said is phenomenal book that changed sociology studies. It is a very good read and even first 50-60 pages are enough to make you think.

Regarding dowry related death, any death of wife within 7 years of marriage is reported as dowry related death. Why? So police-lawyer-NCW nexus can make money out of it by harassing husband. A lot of times even women's family jumps in to make money. That is the level of discrimination women face. For example, the dowry harassment lawsuit (498a IPC) is non-cognizable, which means once filed, it cannot be taken back. Then it is Husband vs. The State. The moment a death occurs police and lawyers will convince family members to file 498a. Then they can simply use it to extort lakhs. My friend himself paid 10 lakhs. Is NCW interested in that data? No. It actively hides the real data, instead relying on vague statistics like 'how many dowry related deaths have been reported to police' and not 'how many dowry related deaths actually happened'. And why not? NCW is run by politicians and wives of corrupt IPS officers.