Pacific Settlement Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 7500 words

Pacific Settlement - Essay Example The concept of Orientalism was introduced by Edward Said where the West was considered as the developed one and they were referred as the accident. The non-Europeans were considered as orients, who were traditional in nature and lacked capital-centric approach. It has been argued that institutions like the census, map, and museum play a big role in shaping the dominion of the colonial state. It included â€Å"nature of the human beings ruled, the geography of its domain, and the legitimacy of its ancestry†. While analyzing the concept of the formation of the nation-state, one first needs to understand the meaning of a nation. A nation is defined as an imagined state. The nation is imagined to be limited or finite in spite of having large areas and it is a community in the sense that even if there is exploitation, the nation is also perceived as an emblem of deep â€Å"comradeship†. The nation is also imagined to be limited. This is so because even if a country is large in size with a billion populations still its boundary is finite as beyond that there are other nations. The concept of Orientalism can be used to trace the origin of the Pacific islands. The contact between the Europeans and the Pacific islands, in fact, gave birth to the concept of nations and nation states. One can even notice that the Pacific islands had a considerable â€Å"intellectual influence† on the Westerners. This was seen even though the relative size of the islands was small and they lacked resources compared to the western countries.... The non Europeans were considered as orients, who were traditional in nature and lacked capital centric approach (Said, 1-3). It has been argued that institutions like the census, map, and museum play a big role in shaping the dominion of the colonial state. It included â€Å"nature of the human beings ruled, geography of its domain, and the legitimacy of its ancestry† (Benedict, 163-164). While analyzing the concept of the formation of nation state, one first needs to understand the meaning of a nation. A nation is defined as an imagined state. The nation is imagined to be limited or finite in spite of having large areas and it is a community in the sense that even if there is exploitation, the nation is also perceived as an emblem of deep â€Å"comradeship†. The nation is also imagined to be limited. This is so because even if a country is large in size with a billion populations still its boundary is finite as beyond that there are other nations (Benedict, 6-7). The concept of orientalism can be used to trace the origin of the Pacific islands. The contact between the Europeans and the Pacific islands in fact gave birth to the concept of nations and nation states. One can even notice that the Pacific islands had a considerable â€Å"intellectual influence† on the Westerners. This was seen even though the relative size of the islands was small and they lacked resources compared to the western countries. In fact the Europeans though for a brief moment was compelled to admit after the discovery of Tahiti in 1760s that their life was better than many Europeans. The people of Tahiti had in fact proved the myth of â€Å"noble savage† true to the Europeans. (Lansdown, 5-13). COLONIALISM, NATIONALISM, AND